


SUPERHUMAN

by renjunah



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, Blood and Injury, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Fighting, M/M, Mutant Powers, Slow Burn, Temporary Character Death, description of injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28250310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renjunah/pseuds/renjunah
Summary: Renjun has always searched for a place he could belong, but in a world that despised him for his powers where could that be?---In a world where mutants are hunted, a group has banded together to help one another survive.When their home is attacked they have no choice but to fight back.(a slightly domestic X-Men/Mutant AU)
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	1. PROLOUGE

**Author's Note:**

> TW!!! there will be a lot of fighting in this fic, so please be cautious :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some backstory into the world.

Because of a defect in the pesticides used in two decade’s worth of crops around the world mutations are somewhat common in children born between 1990 and 2010. During this time roughly one in six children were born with a mutation, with the numbers being larger in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

As a precautionary measure some governments began to place bans on the use of any powers that came with these genetic mutations, while others took a much harsher approach.

Countries such as China and Russia built large camps in the middle of otherwise unused chunks of land. These camps were used as containment areas for those with powers and, while promised to be humane, were nothing more than forced labor camps where the majority of people kept would die within a few years, if not sooner.

Now, nearly thirty years after mutations became commonplace, mutants are still being hunted - more forcefully than ever before. More countries around the world have build "containment facilities" to house mutants and, more than ever, mutants are being killed with staggering force.

In an effort to protect themselves some mutants have started to band together, often living in groups of ten or more. These groups stay close, living and training together in an effort to protect one another.


	2. Dream Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Run. Chase. Home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: there is a brief description of choking in this chapter

Renjun walked aimlessly through a crowded street, every now and then checking behind himself to make sure he wasn’t being followed. Sunlight fading behind the buildings surrounding him, the sky was beginning to turn from a light blue to a vibrant red. Stepping to the side, he took a second to look up at the sky - _one of the benefits of having nowhere to go._ This had been his life for the past several years: wandering in the day, begging and stealing to survive, and relaxing - _as much as he could_ \- at night. 

His life before this felt like nothing more than a dream. He had been a happy child, living in a city not too far from the Chinese-Korean border with his mother and father. One day, _he couldn’t remember how old he had been at the time_ , his parents told him to leave and warned him that if he was ever to return he would be jailed. Even after all of that, all of the trauma that he had been through since then, he didn’t hate his parents. It couldn’t be easy having a child like _him_. He remembered the tears in his mother’s eyes as he walked out of his home for the last time. He remembered his father holding her back, not wanting her to hug him good-bye. He remembered hearing his father burst into tears after he closed the door.

 _He was exhausted._ Ducking into a narrow alley between two restaurants he slumped down against one of the walls, the street lights just barely reaching him. The smell of grilled meat danced through the alley, making his mouth immediately start to water. The dinner rush had just started, so he would be living with that smell for the rest of the night.

“I’m hungry,” Renjun groaned, letting his head fall onto his shoulder. He hadn’t eaten in _at least_ three days and he was starting to feel the effects.

“Aren’t we all?” A deep voice echoed from the depths of the alley. Renjun jumped to his feet on instinct, putting his back firmly to the wall. “Whoa kid, cool it,” the voice snickered. From the darkness emerged a large, old looking white cat with a crooked smile. The cat, missing a chunk out of its left ear and several large patches of fur across its body, looked like it had been living on the street for a _very_ long time. “Why’re you even out here, kid? Shouldn’t you be at home or s’mthin’?” It’s mouth moved as it was letting out a long, rasp yowl yet Renjun could understand exactly what it meant.

“Home,” Renjun scoffed. “I’m not sure I know what that is anymore.”

“You can hear me,” the cat tilted it’s head as it slowly made its way to Renjun’s side. “That’s a first. Usually you people will just snap your fingers at me or some shit like that.”

“I can hear a lot of animals,” Renjun shrugged. To him it was old news, he’d been able to understand animals for as long as he could remember. “There’s no chance you can get us something to eat, is there?” The cat grinned at the boy’s question.

“Not unless you want to eat a pigeon or a half-dead rat.” Renjun shook his head with his nose scrunched; that was about the answer he had expected. “I could give begging a shot, though if I get something it’ll cost ya’.” Renjun couldn’t help but laugh. 

“What do I have that you could possibly want?” he squinted. “I doubt you want money, not that I have any.”

“You’re right about that one, kid,” the cat sauntered past him, towards the street. “If I get somethin’ and give some to you, you gotta take me wherever you’re sleepin’ tonight, got it? If I have to spend another night in this gross alley I’m going to fuckin’ lose it.” Renjun paused to think. He didn’t know where he was sleeping, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to agree to the cat’s terms.

“Deal.”

“Good,” the cat smirked. “Stay back here, I’ll work my magic.” Renjun took a seat and watched as the cat slumped down in front of one of the restaurants. An hour passed as the cat stayed there, meowing rather sadly at anyone who came out of the building, hoping that they'd toss him something, _anything_ , to eat.

 _“I’d have more luck than this”_ , Renjun thought. One hour quickly turned into two, and then three.

“Kid,” the cat called back into the alley, pacing back and forth between the two store-fronts. “I wouldn’t get ya’ hopes up tonight, it’s not lookin’ good. These people are-” he was cut off by a large figure suddenly towering over him. 

“Look!!” The figure, a tall boy who looked to be about Renjun’s age, practically screamed. “What a good kitty!” Renjun watched as the boy crouched down to greet the cat, holding his hand out to touch it, but was quickly swatted away.

“Don’t get our food near it!!” The second figure, another boy, barked, pulling the first back to his feet and grabbing a take-out bag from his hand. “And don’t touch it, you don’t know where it’s been.”

“I know where it _can_ go,” the first boy said loudly, swiping the cat up into his arms. “Do you want to come home with us, mister?” The cat squirmed, clearly not wanting to be held.

“Jeno is allergic to cats, remember?” yet another boy joined the group.

“Yeah, well Jeno is also allergic to fun,” the first boy laughed, putting the cat back on the sidewalk after giving him a gentle squeeze. “I think he needs a home.”

“How do you know it’s a he?”

“It’s a guess,” the boy shrugged.

“It looks… gross,” one last boy took a step closer to the rest. “Like it has a disease or something.”

“Oh,” the first sang, swatting at him before turning back to the cat. “He didn’t mean that, baby boy.”

“There’s no way that thing is a baby,” one of them laughed. “It looks like it’s been through a war.” The group of four boys followed the cat as it slunk towards the alley where Renjun was hiding patiently.

“Kid? Here’s the plan,” the cat yelled into the alley. “I’ll distract them, you grab the bag and run. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Renjun answered quietly. He pushed himself to his feet and watched silently as the cat led the group of boys to the mouth of the alley, leaving just enough room for Renjun to slip through them without being noticed.

“Jaemin, will you get away from that thing? My eyes are starting to water,” one of the boys grumbled. “Let’s just go.”

“Jenooo, I can’t just leave him here, look how sad he looks!” The boy wrapped both of his arms around the other, making him drop their food bag to the ground. He tried to wrestle his way out, but the boy’s grip was strong as he leaned his head closer into the other’s neck. “Come on, Jeno, are you really going to let this poor baby die out here all alone on the street?” 

_Now._

Slinking out of the alley Renjun tried his best to stay in the shadows as long as he could. Squeezing just past the group he gently grabbed the bag from behind the two boys, one still tightly gripping the other, and lifted it up as quietly as he could. When he was sure that it was far enough off of the ground he took a deep breath and, with all of the strength he could muster, made a running break down the sidewalk. He managed to get a couple yards away from them before one of the boys noticed their missing bag.

“HEY!” The boy yelled, jumping off of the ground to point at Renjun as he ran in the opposite direction. Renjun could hear their footsteps as the group began to chase after him. He kept running, passing another group of people heading towards the restaurant. “ _Good,_ ” he thought, “ _Maybe I can lose them in the crowd_.” 

“Keep runnin’, kid!” He heard the cat’s raspy voice yell from somewhere behind him. Renjun turned a corner and scanned the area for anywhere he could hide; quickly glancing behind him he watched the four boys running furiously towards him. One of them grabbed another and, before Renjun could fully process what was happening, they were gone - disappearing in a large puff of electric green smoke.

 _“That can’t be right,”_ Renjun thought, trying to keep his pace. “ _Did they just-”_

The next thing he knew there was a hand around his throat and his head was slamming against the cool concrete of the sidewalk. “ _How-”_ Renjun desperately looked around for anyone to help him, but the streets had somehow cleared at the exact worst time. He gasped for breath as the pressure of the grip increased, forcing the air out of his lungs. He felt the sharp stab of the boy’s knee jam itself into his ribs as another gasp for air escaped his body. Renjun squeezed his eyes closed. “ _I can’t believe I’m going to die because of a fucking cat.”_ Trying desperately to squirm out from beneath the boy on top of him, he made one last breathy gasp as he used all of the power he had left to call out into the darkness. “Cat-” he gasped, extending his hand as far as he could. Renjun’s vision began to fog, his breath weak. He squeezed his eyes closed and waited for whatever was next.

The hand was gone as quickly as it appeared. Renjun’s body stiff, he slowly blinked open his eyes and watched, still breathless, as the cat jumped onto the boy who grabbed him, pushing him onto his back as it furiously scratched at him.

“GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!” The boy yelled. “I'M GOING TO-” instead of finishing his sentence he let out a sequence of loud, violent sneezes.

“There’s no way I’m touching that thing,” the other boy who had disappeared jumped back, leaving plenty of space between himself and the cat. _“I need to get out of here,”_ Renjun thought as he rolled onto his stomach. He tried to push himself back to his feet but couldn’t find the strength.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Renjun gasped.

“Jisung,” the third and fourth boy finally appeared, panting. “You know… you can grab… all of us… when you blink…” one of them said, taking large gaps between words to regain his breath.

“I didn’t _need_ to tho,” one of the boys, presumably Jisung, replied. “Jeno handled it, see?” He gestured to Renjun, then to the boy on the ground who was still furiously wrestling with the cat and sneezing.

“What’s your deal?” One of the boys asked, standing over Renjun who had finally managed to push himself into his knees. Renjun remained silent, his head focused on the ground. “Hey,” the boy gave Renjun’s shoulder a nudge. “I asked you a question.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Renjun spat, not daring to look into the boy’s eyes as he struggled to regain his breath.

“Brave words from someone who just got their shit _wrecked_ ,” Another boy laughed. “Jaemin, come on. Let’s just take the food and go.”

“No,” he replied, squatting down to meet Renjun’s gaze. “He’s got me all curious.”

“Who cares?” One of the boys whined. “He’s just some homeless person, let’s just go.” 

“And besides, it’s late,” Jisung agreed. “We need to get home.”

“Yeah, yeah, when I’m done.” The boy, Jaemin, waved off the others. “Spill it, runner. What’s your deal?”

“I promised the cat I’d get him something to eat,” Renjun shrugged. “He said he hasn’t eaten in a few days.” Usually when he said something like this - something that would sound crazy to any _normal_ person - they’d run off.

“You can talk to it?” Jaemin asked with a smirk.

“Why was that your first assumption?” the other, Jeno, scoffed. It seemed that he had finally gotten free of the cat’s grip. “He’s obviously lying.”

“I don’t think so,” Jaemin shrugged, putting his hand on Renjun’s chin and forcing it upward. “Just look at him, he reeks of mutant energy.” The word _mutant_ made Renjun’s body tense. He was, in fact, a mutant but that wasn’t something that he would admit casually. The boy leaned close to Renjun, his lips grazing his ear. Every hair on Renjun’s body stood up as he spoke in a low, dark tone. “ _I think you should tell us if you’re a mutant_ ,” the boy whispered, each word like a dagger into his ear. For a split second Renjun felt like his mind was taken over, he could feel his lips moving but he wasn’t the one controlling them.

“I _am_ a mutant,” Renjun said quietly, immediately bringing his hands up to cover his mouth before it said anymore.

“Told you!” Jaemin smiled, taking his hand from Renjun’s chin as he pushed himself up. “We taking him or not?”

“Are you serious?” Jeno asked with a scowl. “He just tried to steal from us and you want to bring him home?”

“Calm down, it’s just a little food,” Jaemin sang. “How about this, No Jam, it’s either him or the cat.”

“Bring me home?” Renjun questioned, finally gathering the strength to push himself to his feet. “That guy just tried to kill me and now you want to kidnap me?”

“Kidnap is a bit of a harsh way to put it,” Jisung said, awkwardly rubbing his head.

“Yeah, it’s more like we’re inviting you to dinner.”

“Yeah!” The other boy agreed. “So? You want to eat or what?” Renjun took a second to weigh his options. _Either sit out here and starve or go with these guys and possibly get murdered, hmm._

“We don’t have all night,” Jeno huffed.

“Fine,” Renjun nodded, picking up the cat who was now circling his feet. “But I promised the cat it could come with me.”

“HA!” Jaemin laughed, hitting Jeno harshly on the shoulder. “So we _do_ get to take the cat home! Blink us there Jisung, I’m starving.”

“No way,” Jeno protested. “I’m allergic and, even if I wasn’t, that _thing_ just tried to kill me.”

“Well you just tried to kill _him,_ you little shit,” the cat grunted, appearing at Renjun’s feet. “So let’s call it even.” Renjun smirked and glanced up to Jeno, who frowned back at him.

“What’s so funny?” Jeno asked with a scowl.

“The cat thinks you’re a piece of shit,” Renjun smirked

“Jisung,” Jaemin cut between the two, seeing the situation beginning to escalate. “Blink us home.

“ _All_ of us? That’s five people though,” Jisung whined.

“Yes, _all of us_.”

“Fine.” The boys huddled together, pulling Renjun and the cat in with them. He was about to object, but before he had the chance his eyes were filled with the same neon green smoke that Jisung and Jeno had disappeared in earlier. In the blink of an eye he, and the rest of the group, were no longer on the dark street they were on less than a second before. Instead they were standing in a sparsely furnished, open-floor apartment. The boys dispersed, most of them heading to the kitchen area. Renjun felt like his body had been put in a blender. He tried his best to stabilize himself, but he still ended up dropping the cat and falling to the ground. Jeno smirked as he pushed past Renjun’s body, following the others to the kitchen.

“Oh, I probably should have warned you,” Jisung shrugged as he searched through the refrigerator. “You’re going to feel nauseous for a few minutes, but you’re fine.”

“Great,” Renjun gasped, holding his stomach.

“Guess we’re eating down here,” Jaemin said with a smile, joining Renjun on the floor with the bag of food. “Have we introduced ourselves yet? I don’t think we did. I’m Jaemin,” he extended his hand, but quickly retracted it after seeing Renjun’s expression of sickness. “That’s Jisung, he blinked us here. Over there is Haechan, and then there’s Jeno, he’s the guy that tackled you.” Renjun lifted his head enough to follow Jaemin’s finger as he pointed to the others.

“Yeah, Jeno really beat the shit out of you, huh?” Haechan laughed, joining Renjun and Jaemin on the ground.

“I didn’t hit him,” Jeno said, matter-of-factly. “You know we have a table, right?”

“Yeah, but we don’t have enough chairs,” Jaemin answered mockingly in the same matter-of-fact tone. “Bring an extra plate so we can give- what’s your name?” He turned to Renjun with a cocked head.

“It’s uh-” he paused, debating whether or not to give the group his real name. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something inside of him told him that he should. “Renjun.” The nausea finally dwindling, he lifted his head to meet Jaemin’s gaze. 

“Alright, Jeno grab a plate for Renjun and a little one for- what’s the cat’s name?” Jaemin questioned again.

“I, uh, I actually never asked,” Renjun shrugged. “What _is_ your name?” The cat flashed Renjun a grin before climbing onto his lap

“I’ve lived on the streets my whole life, ain’t got a name,” the cat said, circling a few times before getting into a comfortable position.

“It said it doesn’t have a name,” Renjun reiterated, turning back to Jaemin.

“You understood that?” Haechan questioned as he took a seat on the floor beside Jaemin. “It just sounded like a bunch of meowing to me.” Renjun nodded as a response.

“We should give him a name- is it a him?,” Jaemin said, reaching to pat it’s head. “Wait, no! Renjun, ask it what name it wants to have!” 

“It can hear you,” Renjun answered, turning to the cat. “So?”

“I’m a _him,_ ” the cat scoffed. “I haven’t given a name a lot’ta thought. Maybe… Oh!” his head perked up for a second before settling back down. “One of the kids at the university I was born near called me John, so how’s that for ya’?”

“Fine with me,” Renjun said with a small smile. “ _He_ said and someone used to call him John.

“What a boring name,” Jisung laughed. “I was expecting something, I don’t know, more… exciting.”

“Don’t laugh at his name,” Jaemin said, smacking Jisung’s leg. “Jeno! Grab a little bowl for John too.”

“You’re going to feed the cat?” Jeno moaned. “Jaemin, really?”

“Of course I am, he’s a guest,” Jamin snapped, almost sounding offended. “Are you telling me we should let one of our guests go hungry, Jeno? You’re such a bad host.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jeno huffed, pulling a coffee table between the group before joining them on the ground. “Let’s just eat, I’m starving.”

“You worked hard today, Jeno,” Jaemin sang in a high pitch. “You worked out, you almost murdered one of our new friends, _you_ almost got murdered by a cat-”

“I didn’t almost murder him! He’s fine!” Jeno interrupted, pointing to Renjun.

“He didn’t look fine when your hand was around his neck,” Haechan said under his breath, passing the various boxes of food around the table. Jeno rolled his eyes.

“I was barely holding him.”

“I almost passed out,” Renjun said under his breath.

“Stop exaggerating,” Jeno rolled his eyes. “I was only holding you tight enough to make sure you couldn’t run off.”

“Tell that to the bruises that’ll be there tomorrow,” Haechan smirked. “I’m warning you now, Renjun, tomorrow morning is going to _suck_ for you. I bet you’re going to be aching for days.”

“And _we_ will be here to take care of him,” Jaemin smiled, tossing his arm around Renjun’s shoulder.

“Who said he was staying?” Jisung asked, shoving some food into his mouth. “I thought we were just going to talk to him.”

“He’s a mutant, of course he’s staying!” Jaemin scoffed. “You _are_ staying, right?”

“Uh,” Renjun shrugged. “No offense or anything, but I met you less than an hour ago and almost died because of it. I’m not sure why you think I’m staying.” Jaemin’s expression dropped. Renjun almost felt bad for his response, but there was still the prospect of them killing him, so he was remaining cautious. He quickly glanced around the room, making note of the possible exits.

“You’ll stay if you know what’s good for you,” Haechan said with a smirk. “Free place to sleep, free meals,” he flashed a toothy smile at Renjun. “And besides, us mutants have to stick together, right?”  
“ _Us_ mutants?” Renjun repeated. “Wait, are you all- I mean I figured he- I mean Jisung, I figured he was one since he did the smoke thing, but all of you?” 

“Yep!” Jaemin interjected happily. “Haechan does his light thing, Jeno does his arm thing, and I do my talking thing.”

“ _Very helpful information_ ,” Jeno snorted. “If you’re staying you’re going to have to get used to him. What he _meant_ is that Haechan can make and control light, he can tell things to people and they do it, and I, well-” he nonchalantly lifted his hands from below the table. Renjun hadn’t noticed before, but Jeno’s hands were completely covered in a metallic silver, almost as if they were made of metal.

“What is that?” Renjun questioned. He didn’t mean anything by it, but Jeno’s reaction signified that he clearly didn’t like the word _that_ in reference to his hands.

“My arms are made of steel,” Jeno frowned. “It used to be less of me, but right now it’s up to my arms.” Renjun wanted to question him further, but decided against it.

“Okay, enough business talk,” Jaemin said, lightly banging his hands into the table. “Let’s eat.”

* * *

Renjun felt like he was going to explode. He hadn’t eaten in days and it had been even longer since he had a decent meal. He brought his hands to his chest and he leaned back on the couch behind him.

“Hey, Renjun, can I ask you a question?” Jisung asked, taking a sip of his drink. “Why were you in that alley?”

“I, uh,” his face began to turn a bright shade of red. “I was going to sleep there.” He turned his head, not wanting to see their reactions.

“Oh,” Jisung said quietly, seeing he had stricken a nerve.

“Well, no need to worry about that now,” Jaemin said with a smile. “You’re free to stay here as long as you want!”

“You keep saying that,” Renjun trailed off, trying to think of how to phrase his question without offending him. “Why, should I- I mean, why do you want me to stay so badly? I appreciate the hospitality and all, but don’t you think it’s a bit, you know- I mean we’re total strangers and you keep inviting me to live with you- you understand how sketchy that is, right?”

“Jaemin, if you want him to stay so badly why don’t you just _tell_ him?” Jeno laughed. 

“Not funny,” Jaemin frowned. “I know it’s a lot, but we’re really trying to help! To make a long story short Haechan has been running around collecting mutants who don’t have anywhere else to go, so that’s why we want you to stay.”

“Yeah, he found all of us,” Jisung agreed.

“I mean,” Haechan started, looking a little embarrassed. “It’s not _just_ me, there’s the other group too. They pay for this place and help me find more of us.”

“He’s too humble,” Jaeman said, playfully punching Haechan’s shoulder. “If it wasn’t for him we would have never found each other.”

“I’d probably be dead, honestly,” Jisung said with a shrug. “I was in an orphanage for most of my life before but when they found out I had powers they kicked me out. Haechan found me a couple weeks later, and honestly, I was pretty close to calling it at that point.”

“All of our stories are like that,” Haechan agreed. “Kid with powers gets kicked out of the house, ya’ know?” Renjun nodded. 

“ _Sounds familiar_.”

“Anyways,” Jaemin said, driving the conversation back to its original point. “Haechan picked us up, Jeno and Jisung first, then me, and now you! We try to lay low and practice our powers as much as we can. Sometimes the other group will send over some locations and we’ll pick up new people.”

“You’re the first person we’ve picked up in, what?” Haechan said, counting his fingers. “Two years?”

“It feels like longer,” Jisung sighed.

“So I can just… live here? That’s it?” Renjun questioned. “No strings attached, just…” he trailed off. The prospect of having a free place to sleep and free meals sounded too good to be true.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Jisung shrugged. “Pretty sweet, right?”

“Can I leave?” Renjun asked. An awkward silence fell over the room and, after reading the faces of the others, he decided to rephrase. “I mean, not right now. But in the future, if I ever decide I want to leave, can I?"

“No one is going to force you to stay,” Jeno answered with a flat expression. “I mean, why would we?”

“He’s being moody, ignore him.” Haechan laughed. “But he _is_ right. You can leave whenever you want.”

“So how about it, Renjun?” Jaemin asked, taking his hand. “Are you going to stay?” Renjun paused, glancing at the boys. The offer still sounded too good to be true, but he couldn’t bring himself to pass it up.

“Yeah, why not?” Renjun answered with a small smile. Jaemin tossed his arms into the air then promptly around Renjun’s shoulders, pulling him into a loose hug.

“You’re going to love it here, I promise,” Jaemin smiled. “Now that that is settled we can set up your room!”

“Room?” Renjun snorted. “I get a whole room to myself?”

“If you want,” Jaemin shrugged. “We have an extra one, though it’s a little small.” A smile crept across his face. “Or we could push an extra bed into Jeno’s room. Jeno, wouldn’t you _love_ a roommate?” 

“Are you serious?” Jeno rolled his eyes. “My room is _way_ too small for two people.”

“You could squeeze,” Haechan laughed. “I think it’d be fun.”

“That’s okay,” Renjun interjected. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Fine by me,” Jaemin shrugged. “Jisung, will you take Jeno to grab another bed from the other dorm?”

“Can’t he go get his own bed?” Jeno complained, flopping onto the ground.

“You’re the only person here who can carry a _full_ bed, Jeno. It’ll only take a second. Besides, I think you owe him one.”

“Fine.”

* * *

Within ten minutes Jeno and Jisung had returned with a bed for Renjun and set it in a small room off of the kitchen.

“Jisung and I share a room, it’s at the end of the hall,” Jaemin explained. “And Jeno has his own room, right beside yours.”

“What about Haechan?” Renjun questioned as he tucked a sheet onto his new bed. It had been years since the last time he even _thought_ about bed sheets.

“Haechan usually doesn’t sleep here, since he has a room at the other dorm,” Jaemin said bluntly. “To be honest he’s hardly ever here, you just got lucky tonight.”

“You’ll be lucky again tomorrow, too,” Haechan yelled from the kitchen. “I just got a text from Mark.”

“Who’s Mark?”

“Another one of us, he lives in the other dorm though,” Jeno answered, suddenly standing in the threshold of Renjun’s room. “I’m sure you’ll meet him eventually.”

“Wait until you see his mutation, it’s _wild_ ,” Haechan laughed.

“Oh, yeah,” Jisung agreed. “The first time I saw him do it I thought I was going crazy.”

“That’s how I felt the first time I saw yours, Jisung,” Jaemin said with a smile. “That green smoke really scared the shit out of me the first couple of times.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m _beat_ ,” Haechan said, stretching out his arms. “I’m going to head back to the dorm, I’ll text you all the location in the morning and meet you there.” The group of boys quickly said their goodbyes as Haechan headed out of the door, leaving the other four scattered in Renjun’s room.

“I think I’m going to turn in too,” Jeno said, pushing himself from the threshold. “Night.”

“Night!” Jaemin repeated brightly. “Renjun, since you’re not in the group chat I’ll come wake you up tomorrow.”

“Okay, thanks. Uh, do you mind if I take a shower?” He asked, gesturing to his hair. “I feel like if I sit down on this bed it’ll get covered in dirt.”

“Of course! The bathroom is across from our room, I’ll go grab a towel and some clothes for you.” Jaemin disappeared for a couple minutes with Jisung in tow and returned, as promised, with a towel and two sets of clothes. “Alright here are some pajamas, and something to wear tomorrow,” he said with a smile. “They’re probably going to be a bit long since I’m taller than you, sorry.”

“No, this is perfect, thank you,” Renjun bowed his head as he took the stack from him. 

“No problem, really,” Jaemin responded. “See you in the morning!”

Renjun watched as Jaemin left his room and made his way down the hall to his own room. He waited until he heard his door close, then made his way to the bathroom. Turning on the water he waited for it to rise to the right temperature, not too warm but not too cool, and got in. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and stepped into the water, letting it drip down his face. He felt tears forming in his eyes, not bothering to hold them back he stood there, quietly weeping as the water continued to shower his body. That morning he woke up beside a dumpster, spent the day looking for food, and had planned to go to sleep hungry, next to another dumpster. Instead, he was standing in a home, with a full stomach and a bed of his own. 

_How was this real?_

He quickly finished his shower, dried off, got dressed, and made his way back to his bedroom. John was curled up happily on the floor, fast asleep. Renjun cracked a smile. 

“You’re cuter when you’re sleeping, John,” he whispered, tiptoeing around him. He turned on the light on his nightstand and slipped into his bed.

For the first time in years Renjun was able to fall asleep within minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, new chapter up soon :) eventually all of the nct guys will be introduced, so leave a comment with your power guesses lol


	3. Ridin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carnival Rides. Cold Hands. New Friends.

“Renjunnn,” Jaemin sang as he slid down the hallway. “We’ll be leaving soon!”

“One second,” Renjun called from behind the door. “I’ll be right out.”  
“You should have woken him earlier,” Jeno nagged, pushing past Jaemin and into the kitchen. “We’re going to be late.” Haechan had texted the group to meet him at ten o’clock, it was already nine forty-five and with a twenty minute walk… _“I hate being late,”_ Jeno thought, grabbing a protein drink out of the refrigerator and downing it in a couple of large gulps.

“Maybe you should have woken him up then,” Jaemin replied through a clenched smile. “Or maybe-”

“Okay, sorry!” Renjun opened his door. Jeno turned his head just in time to see him step out of his room. “I had to make my bed.”

Peering inside of the room, Jeno saw the practically hotel-like state that it was in. His eyes shooting back to Renjun, he couldn’t help but notice how handsome the young man was. Yesterday Renjun had clearly looked like he lived on the street - his clothes covered in stains and holes, his hair unkempt, his smell, well, let's just say it was _less than ideal_. Today, however, he looked like an entirely different person. He had clearly had a chance to shower, for starters. His hair was neatly brushed back to one side, leaving the other side to perfectly lay just over his eye. His clothes were no longer covered in stains, instead he was wearing an outfit of Jaemin’s - a loose white button-up shirt, a pair of straight legged jeans with one of the knees _purposely_ ripped, and a simple black belt. “ _It’s a shame he was living on the street for so long_.” Jeno thought as he moved closer to the group.

“We should probably go,” Jisung said, checking his phone. “Haechan is yelling at us in the group chat.”

“And if he lived with us he’d be yelling at us _in person_ ,” Jaemin laughed, heading to the door. “Let’s go.” One by one the boys filed out of the door, down the stairs, and onto the sidewalk outside of their apartment building. It was a beautiful day in Seoul, the temperature was just right for being outside.

Jeno stayed towards the back of the group, hovering awkwardly next to Renjun. Less than 24 hours ago his hands had been around Renjun’s throat, admittedly a little too tightly. It wasn’t anything personal, it had just been his first instinct after Renjun ran off with his food. _“I should say something to him.”_

“It’s a, uh,” Jeno stumbled, matching his pace to Renjun’s. “It’s a nice day.” _Super smooth, Jeno. Really great delivery_.

“Yeah,” Renjun answered simply. “Days like this I was never too mad about having to sleep outside.” There was a considerable gap growing between the two groups of boys, Jaemin and Jisung in the front with Jeno and Renjun behind them, but Renjun seemed content to keep their pace.

“How did you become- I mean why were you- I mean… if you don’t mind me asking, how were you-”

“It’s okay,” Renjun cut him off, seeing that he was struggling to form his question. “My parents kicked me out when I was... thirteen? Maybe younger, I don't really remember, but either way back then is when China started sending mutants to camps, you know? They didn’t want to turn me in, but they also couldn’t risk keeping me there anymore. I’m sure it was hard for…” he trailed off, focusing on his feet. “Anyways, at the time South Korea’s anti-mutant laws weren’t as harsh so I decided to come here.” Jeno’s jaw was practically on the ground. _At thirteen he migrated by himself?_

“That’s incredible,” Jeno said, his tone light. “I mean, the fact that you made it all of the way here by yourself, that’s a lot of distance to cover.”

“It took me a while,” Renjun nodded, lifting his head. “What about you? How did you get in with all of this?” He gestured to Jaemin and Jisung who were now even further ahead.

“Mark actually came to my house,” Jeno snorted. “My mutation isn’t really something I can hide, so my parents had been looking for somewhere safe to send me. They heard through a friend of a friend of a friend that there was a group of mutants taking people in and then out of nowhere Mark showed up at our door, honestly it all happened so fast it’s kinda’ hard to remember the details.”

“Oh,” Renjun nodded. A silence fell over the boys for a couple minutes as they continued to walk.

“Listen,” Jeno started, staring at the ground. “I’m uh… I’m really sorry about yesterday. I kinda just went into fight mode and-”

“You really don’t have to apologize,” Renjun stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder for a second. “I probably would have done the same if someone stole from me like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Renjun shrugged. “Well, I probably wouldn’t have tackled them, or tried to choke them but…” Jeno tensed up, looking at his hands. _“I really wasn’t trying to choke him_ ,” he thought, shaking his head. “Jeno, relax,” Renjun laughed. “I’m just messing with you. There’s seriously no hard feelings.”

“Can you two walk any slower?” Jaemin shouted. He and Jisung had stopped so the two could catch up. “You know we’re already late, right?”

“Sorry!” Renjun called, jogging to meet them. “Where exactly are we going?”

“A carnival, I think,” Jisung answered. “Haechan didn’t give me a lot of details, but apparently there has been a mutant walking around this carnival for a couple days now.”

“Oh,” Renjun said, cocking his head to the side. “How are we supposed to know what they look like?”

“Don’t know,” Jaemin shrugged in response. “We just have to keep our eyes peeled for anything that seems mutant-y.”

* * *

Jeno hadn’t been anywhere near a carnival in _years_. Besides the fact that they were usually swarming with some sort of security that was ready to take any mutant they saw, he had never really had an interest in going alone.

After meeting Haechan at the entrance the group was quickly ushered to the ticket line.

Jeno _hated_ waiting in lines.

It wasn’t easy hiding his metal arms, especially on days like this. The temperature was fair, no need to be wearing long sleeves or a jacket, of which he was wearing both. In addition to the unseasonal outerwear, he was also wearing a pair of light tan leather gloves. The gloves were flush tight to his hands, in passing they just looked like his skin - _which was exactly the point_ \- but the closer someone was to him, or the longer they stared, it was extremely obvious that they weren’t a part of his body. He kept his hands in his pockets as Haechan paid for everyone’s ticket, and they walked past the gates, into the carnival. 

“I think it’ll be best if we split up,” Haechan explained as the group crowded around him. “Taeyoung said he has sensed the same person here for almost a week, so look for someone who looks comfortable.”

“Maybe they work at one of the booths?” Renjun offered, looking around. “I can’t imagine someone coming here for a full week if they didn’t work here.”

“It could be a kid,” Jisung suggested.

“Maybe, but I doubt a child could be walking around here alone for a week without someone noticing,” Jaemin nodded.

“We’ll meet back here in a couple hours to regroup if we need to,” Haechan said, checking his watch. “If one of you happens to find them, bring them back to your dorm. I’ll meet you there later tonight after I update everyone else.”

“Someone should probably stick with Renjun, since he doesn’t have a phone,” Jeno said from the back of the group.

“Why don’t you?” Jaemin smirked, raising his eyebrows to Jeno a couple of times. “You two looked to be having a _great_ conversation on the way here. Sound good to you, ‘Junie?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” Renjun shrugged. “If he’s okay with it.”

“Fine by me,” Jeno nodded, ignoring Jaemin's sudden insinuating tone. 

“Great,” Haechan said with a clap. “Let’s get this done.” 

With that the group split up, each going in a different direction. Jeno and Renjun headed the furthest in, making a b-line for the back of the carnival. They were surrounded by flashing lights, a plethora of smaller rides, and the blaring sound of cheerful organ music. “ _They’re always better at night._ ” Jeno thought, taking a look around.

“So, what do you think we should do?” Renjun asked, his eyes darting across the landscape. "There's so much here."

“I’m not sure,” Jeno answered honestly. “I’m never that good at finding people. Maybe we should check out all of the booths first?”

“Works for me,” Renjun smiled. Together they spent the next few hours going from booth to booth, briefly stopping at each to watch the people crowded around it. There was nothing particularly interesting about anyone, workers and carnival goers alike. Most of the people they saw were families, presumably taking their children for a fun day out. 

“I wonder if the others are having better luck than we are,” Renjun huffed, leaning up against one of the booths. He watched the booth attendant, a teenage girl, as she stared down at her phone. 

“No text yet, so I’m assuming they haven’t,” Jeno shook his head. He took a quick look around before something caught his eye. It was one of the larger rides, one where you sit in a car fixed on a winding track and it gets progressively faster. “They have a Music Express here?”

“A what?” Renjun laughed.

“A Music Express, you know?” Jeno pointed to the ride, which was spinning widely. “Have you ever ridden one?”

“I don’t think so,” Renjun answered after taking a good look at the ride. “I couldn’t have been any older than four or five last time I was at anything like this, so I haven’t really ridden any of the things here.”

“We _have_ to change that,” Jeno shook his head as he grabbed Renun’s arm, pulling him towards the ride’s entrance.

“Wait, shouldn’t we be looking for the -” Renjun stopped himself, lowering his voice. “Shouldn’t we focus on looking for the… person that we’re looking for?”

“What if they’re on this ride?” he offered with a shrug. “The only way we’ll know for sure is if we get on.”

“I don’t know about-” Before he could finish his protest Jeno had dragged him onto the ride. He circled the track, finally settling on a vibrant green and yellow car positioned at the back.

“It’s fine,” Jeno said, playfully elbowing Renjun in the arm. “No one said we couldn’t have a little fun, right?”

“I guess,” Renjun said with a sign as the ride’s operator secured the boy’s safety bar into a locked position. Going back to their post, the operator flipped a few switches and the ride began. 80’s disco music blared through the speakers, almost completely covering the operator’s voice.

 _"Maybe if we do some rides he'll forget about yesterday,"_ Jeno thought wishfully. He knew it was unlikely, but there was still a chance he could escape the day with Renjun liking him or, at the very least, not under the impression that Jeno wanted him dead. As the ride began Jeno glanced to Renjun, who was already gripping the safety bar. 

“ _Are you all ready to take a groovy trip into the past?”_ The ride slowly clinked forward. The path of the ride was small in area and had several inclines, swerves, and declines. The cart that the two were seated in, as well as every other cart on the ride, were all painted with bright, shimmering colors with equally bright music notes painted on the sides. Every cart was neatly placed into a circle surrounding the center joint which they were attached to. “ _I_ _said, are you ready?”_ The operator repeated, followed by the delighted screams of children. “ _Then let’s gooo_ .” The ride sped up and the music’s volume increased. The two boys quickly went from stationary to practically flying, wind sweeping through their hair. _“Did I hear someone say faster?”_ The operator boomed. As their cart flew around the track Jeno turned to Renjun with a smile only to find that his eyes were squeezed shut, his hands gripped around the safety bar even tighter than before. _"_

 _Maybe this was a bad_ _idea,"_ Jeno thought, instinctually moving to put his hand on top of Renjun’s. Before their hands collided he stopped himself, realizing the situation. " _I just met him yesterday_ , _what if he thinks I’m trying to make a move on him."_

“ _Let’s cool it down,”_ the operator sang as the ride began to slow. Jeno watched as Renjun’s grip loosened and he opened his eyes, turning his head at the last second to make it look like he wasn’t staring. “ _Thanks for coming on my groovy trip, gang. I’ll see you next time around.”_ The ride clinked to a halt and the safety bars released. 

“That was fun,” Renjun said with a weak smile, shakily pushing himself out of the cart. Jeno, who was already out, grabbed him by the arm to keep him from falling.

“You sure? You look like you’re going to puke.”

“Yeah,” Renjun shook his head. “I just wasn’t expecting it to toss me around so much.” The two made their way off of the ride’s platform and back to the carnival’s path, Jeno releasing Renjun’s arm once they had made it back to solid ground.

“Anything you want to do?” Jeno asked as they started to walk. “There are a couple other rides around, _ones that won’t toss you around_ , or we could try out some of the games?” 

“Well maybe we should…” Renjun trailed off, his eyes fixed on something in the distance. “Does that guy look familiar to you?” He turned his head to Jeno before tilting it slightly to the left. In that vague direction, Jeno saw, was a fairly ordinary looking man. He was wearing sunglasses and a hat, but so were a lot of other people they had seen that day.

“Not really, no.” Jeno shrugged after taking a quick glance. "Should he?"

“I think he’s been following us.”

“Are you sure?” Jeno asked, his eyes darting back and forth from the man to Renjun. If he was right, and they were being followed, Jeno had a feeling that they’d be in deep trouble.

“I’m not sure," Renjun admitted, checking their surroundings. "Maybe we should move just in case.”

“Yeah.” The two made their way into the heart of the carnival and, confirming their suspicions, the man followed a few paces behind them. Stopping at a booth, one of the many tossing games that were scattered throughout the carnival grounds, they tried to subtly watch him. Whoever he was, he was keeping his distance, every couple of seconds he would take a few steps away - trying to make himself look busy. After a few more stops at various booths the boys were sure that they were being tailed.

Taking another look at the man, Jeno watched as he took off his glasses and looked straight at them, or more accurately, at Jeno’s hands. Renjun must have also noticed because, without missing a beat, he took Jeno’s hand as they walked. The move was so effortless, _so casual_ , that Jeno had hardly noticed it at all. Doing a double take, he glanced down. Sure enough there it was, Renjun’s fingers intertwined with his own, their palms loosely clasped together.

_Is he..._

“I think he might have spotted your hands,” Renjun said lightly, leaning his head close to Jeno’s. “If we stay like this for a while, and you keep the other one in your pocket, I think we can keep him from getting a good look at them.”

“Good thinking,” Jeno nodded as he handed Renjun his phone and swiftly shoved his other hand into his jacket pocket. “Text the group and let them know we have a tail.” Renjun nodded, flipping the phone around in his open hand.

“No password?” He laughed as he slid up the lockscreen. “ _Interesting_.” As quickly as he could with one hand he typed a message into their group chat. 

**Sent to: dreamies**

1:45PM

jeno and i being followed

if you see us don’t come near

text again when hes gone

this is renjun by the way

Within seconds he had a reply.

**From: dreamies, nana jaemin**

1:45 PM

is that why youre holding hands :0

i can see you twoooo ;)

i had no idea youre so flirty junie~

i don’t mind ;) ;) ;)

**From: dreamies, hyuck**

1:45 PM

Okay, lmk if you need some backup

Jaemin stop being gross

**From: dreamies, nana jaemin**

1:46 PM

ur no fun haechanie~

i’m sure all of us would loveeeee to hold jenos hand

renjunie just got to him first :’<

“Ignore him,” Jeno sighed, shaking his head. Jaemin had been the same ever since they’d met, picking on the others every chance he got.

**From: dreamies, pwark jisung**

1:46 PM

Guys listen

I think i found the guy we’re looking for

Theres this guy i’ve been following for the past hour

He keeps going to the aiming games

Like the bottle thing and the duck thing and the basketball

**From: dreamies, hyuck**

1:46 PM

The point PLEASE

**From: dreamies, pwark jisung**

1:46 PM

Okay yeah

So he has done all of these games and hasn’t missed once

Like nothing

Its seriously kinda scary

**From: dreamies, nana jaemin**

1:47 PM

sounds interesting…

maybe i should have a little chat with him >o>

where are you rn? I’ll come say hi >;)

**From: dreamies, pwark jisung**

1:47 PM

Basketball game

Beside all of teh food places

*The

**From: dreamies, nana jaemin**

1:47 PM

be there in a sec!

jeno and rj stay away from us lolllllll

**From: dreamies, hyuck**

1:48 PM

Jeno & Renjun maybe head towards the exit.

Don’t leave yet, but if this is our guy you two should be the first out.

Jisung & Jaemin lmk what’s up ASAP.

**To: dreamies**

1:48PM 

sounds good

**From: dreamies, nana jaemin**

1:48 PM

of course haechanieee~

Renjun locked the phone, sliding it into his pocket. “Jisung thinks he found something,” he relayed to Jeno. “And Haechan wants us to head towards the exit.”

“Sounds good to me.” The two of them slowly made their way through the crowd, checking every now and then for the man in the hat. He was still following them when they got to the exit, still keeping his distance. 

“Lets sit,” Renjun said, tugging Jeno over to a picnic table across from the exit gate. “We can at least stop holding hands here, since he won’t be able to see under the table.” As the two took a seat he let go of Jeno’s hand, pushing it towards his jacket. “You should probably still keep them in your jacket though, just in case.”

“Yeah,” Jeno nodded. He had spent the past several hours with Renjun’s hand in his, it almost felt strange to release it. “Any word from the others?”

“Not ye- oh!” Renjun’s expression lifted as he pulled Jeno’s phone out of his pocket. “I think you summoned them.”

**From: dreamies, nana jaemin**

2:17 PM

GOT HIMMMMMMMM

on our way to the front

i see you jeno~~~

is that nasty man still following you??

**To: dreamies**

2:17PM

that’s great!

yes, we are still being followed. there is a guy in a red hat and sunglasses by the food stands, it’s him.

**From: dreamies, nana jaemin**

2:18 PM

maybe i’ll bump into him on our way out ;>

wait for me~

**From: dreamies, hyuck**

2:18 PM

Jisung, get to the exit ASAP. Don’t blink.

Jaemin be careful.

**From: dreamies, pwark jisung**

2:18 PM

We are on our way up there now

No blinking

Got it

**From: dreamies, nana jaemin**

2:19 PM

HEY RENJUN 

WATCH

Renjun lifted his head with just enough time to spot Jaemin, Jisung, and a boy that looked to be around their age all heading towards them. While Jisung and the boy kept walking, Jaemin stopped a few paces behind the man in the hat, then took a jogging start towards him. He ran straight into the man’s back, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Man, I’m so sorry!” Jaemin exclaimed, extending his hand to the man. “I was just trying to catch up to my friends and then BAM!” The man took his hand and Jaemin pulled him to his feet, leaning into his ear to whisper something as he did. The man took a step back and turned to the exit, his eyes fixed directly in front of him. As the man walked past where he was sitting Renjun turned his attention back to Jaemin who was smiling from ear to ear. 

“Impressed?” He asked with a wink.

“I’ve seen you do that a thousand times,” Jeno rolled his eyes. 

“ _I was asking Renjunie_ ,” Jaemin huffed. “I told him he should forget all about mutants and move to the countryside, isn’t that nice of me?”

“Yeah, but shouldn’t we have figured out who he was? Or at least why he’s been following us all day?” Renjun questioned. Before Jaemin had a chance to answer his phone began to ring.

“Haechan!” Jaemin sang happily as he brought the phone to his ear. “We’re on our way to the apartment now, Haechanie, no need to- what?” Jaemin’s expression immediately dropped. “Seriously? So where do we- okay, okay.” He nodded as he instinctually bit his bottom lip. 

_“That bad?”_ Jeno thought. He had lived with Jaemin for a while now, and knew that he had the tendency to bite his lips when he was nervous or stressed. He watched as Jaemin silently ended the phone call and walked to the carnival exit, moting for everyone to follow. He waited to speak again until they were along.

“We can’t go to the apartment,” Jaemin said in a serious, hushed tone. “Haechan just told me it’s compromised.”

“Wait,” Jisung waved his hands furiously. “What do you mean _compromised_?” 

“Mark was just there,” Jaemin began, his eyes darting to their surroundings. “He was coming to meet Renjun and-” he gestured to the new boy, who had been surprisingly silent through all of this.

“Chenle,” the boy said with a blank smile.

“Right, sorry,” Jaemin nodded. “He was going to meet us there to meet Renjun and Chenle, but when he got there our door was wide open and completely trashed.” He quickly flashed a few blurry pictures to the group. The quality was less than excellent but they could clearly make out larger features: it was surely their apartment, their belongings scattered on the ground and most of their larger items - the couch, the television, chairs and tables - had been completely destroyed.

“Where are we supposed to go?” Jisung asked, grabbing Jaemin’s phone to take a closer look at the pictures.

“Haechan said to head to their apartment and we’ll figure out the rest from there,” Jaemin answered, his tone grim. “But guys, we need to be careful from now on, like, seriously. We don’t know who these people are.”

“Let’s just blink there now, then,” Jisung offered. “There’s a public restroom a few blocks up the road.” The group quickly made their way up the sidewalk to the building Jisung had mentioned and, after checking that it was empty, gathered inside of the restroom.

“Wait where is-” Jeno started his sentence inside of the restroom, but finished it standing in the living room of a small, well decorated apartment. “Renjun?” He finished before doubling over, holding his stomach. “I _hate_ blinking.”

“Wasn’t he with you?” Jaemin questioned, doing a quick headcount of those who had blinked. “ _Shit._ ”

“Oh, hey guys,” a tall man with dark brown hair greeted the group as he stepped out of one of the apartment’s adjoining rooms. “You came quickly, I wasn't expecting you for _at least_ couple more hours.” Doing a once-over of the group, he squinted. “I thought you were supposed to be bringing _two_ new people.”

“Yeah,” Jisung sighed, awkwardly bringing his hand to his head. “I think we lost one.”

“How though?” Jeno questioned, finally able to push himself upright. “He has been beside me all day.”

“Let’s retrace, then,” the tall man offered. “You were all at the carnival right? And he was with Jeno that entire time?”

“Yeah,” Jaemin answered with a smirk. “They got pretty cozy, too.”

" _Not the time_ ," Jeno sneered. "We were together all day and left as a group, he was right beside me."

“Okay, then where did you go after you left the carnival?”

“Down the street,” Chenle answered. “He was there for that, I remember walking beside him before we stopped.”

“Okay, then- oh, hey,” the tall man stopped himself, extending his hand to Chenle. “I’m Johnny, by the way. It’s nice to meet you.” Chenle smiled and replied with his own name before Johnny continued. “You went down the street and he was with you, where did you go after that?”

“A public bathroom,” Jeno replied. “That’s where Jisung blinked us here and I realized Renjun wasn’t with us.”

“So you lost him somewhere between the sidewalk outside of the carnival and the bathroom,” Johnny nodded, taking a seat on the couch behind the group, motioning for them to do the same. “Let’s break it down even more, then. You’re standing on the sidewalk outside of the carnival, tell me exactly what you’re doing.”

“I was telling them about our apartment,” Jaemin explained. “Then I showed them the pictures that Mark took.”

“And does anyone remember seeing him there?”

“I do,” Chenle answered. “He definitely saw the pictures, but now that I’m thinking about it I don’t think he was there when we were walking after that.”

“Are you sure?” Jeno questioned. “I think one of us would have noticed if he hadn’t been there.”

“No,” Chenle shrugged. “But he definitely was there when Jaemin showed us those pictures and then he was-”

“Guys,” Jisung interrupted. “Doesn’t he have Jeno’s phone?” _Fuck, OBVIOUSLY._ Jeno quickly patted down his pockets before nodding to Jisung. 

“Yeah, he does," Jeno confirmed. _How had he not thought of that earlier?_ "Someone check his location.” Jisung pulled out his phone and after a few short taps he let out a gasp.

“This can’t be right,” he started, turning his phone to the rest of the group. “According to this he’s at our apartment.”

"There's no way that's right," Jaemin agreed. "When was the last time it updated?"

"Three minutes ago," Jisung trailed off.

“Why would he have gone there?” Johnny questioned. “Didn’t you say that he was homeless before you picked him up? It’s not like he had anything there.”

“Maybe someone took him there,” Jisung offered.

“Let’s call him and find out,” Jaemin said, pulling out his own phone. Before anyone could protest he had the phone up to his ear. Jeno could feel his heart beat intensifying with each ring. _What if someone took him and- I mean how would someone take him, he was right beside me when we were-_

“Uh... hey,” Renjun’s voice rang through the other end. Jaemin pulled the phone away from his face and put it on speaker.

“Where are you?” Jeno asked, grabbing the phone from Jaemin’s hand. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m at your apartment right now,” Renjun confirmed. His speech was scattered and he was obviously out of breath. “I ran here as soon as Jaemin showed us the pictures.”

“Are you insane?” Jeno half-shouted into the phone. “You heard the part about the men surrounding the building, right? Do you know how _absolutely fucking ridiculous_ it is that you’re there right now? You need to get out of there.” For someone he just met yesterday, Jeno may have been a littleconcerned about Renjun's safety. 

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just- I know this is going to sound really stupid to you but I had to come get John.”

“John?” Johnny asked. “Is there a third person you didn’t tell us about?”

“You’re risking your life right now for a _fucking cat_?” Jeno scoffed. “So you are insane.”

“I told you it was going to sound stupid,” Renjun’s voice echoed. “Look, I got him and I’m out of the building now. Can you just tell me where I’m supposed to meet you guys?”

“You need to make sure no one is following you,” Jaemin said, grabbing his phone back from Jeno. “Like, be ten thousand percent sure.”

“I’m a couple blocks away now, I’m not seeing anyone suspicious.” 

“Are you close to that alley you were in last night?” Jisung asked, leaning in a little too close to the phone. Jaemin swatted him away, pushing the phone to an appropriate distance. 

“Actually, yeah, I think I am.” Renjun answered. “Yeah, I definitely am. I can see the two restaurants right now.”

“Go as far back in the alley as you can,” Jisung instructed, pushing himself off of the couch. “I’ll come get you.”

“Okay, hold on.” There were a few seconds of silence before anyone spoke again. “Alright, I’m here.”

“Anyone around?”

“No, the street is empty. Isn’t that kind of weird for this time of-” Before he could finish Jisung vanished in a puff of green smoke, reappearing just as quickly with Renjun and John in tow. “Day.” Renjun finished before falling to his knees. “ _Please_ give me a little warning next time.”

“Mystery solved,” Jaemin said, his smile returning.

“ _What_ were you thinking?” Jeno said in a harsh, hushed tone as he pulled Renjun to his feet. “You could have gotten captured, or _fuck_ you could have been killed. Do you have any idea how reckless that was?”

“I couldn’t just leave him there.” Renjun said quietly. He looked down at John, who was happily asleep in his arms.

“What if he hadn’t been there?” Jeno asked, his tone harsh. “The risk you took is-”

“There’s no use arguing about it,” Johnny said as he placed a hand on Jeno’s shoulder, trying to diffuse the situation before it escalated any further. Jeno’s head shot to Johnny, looking up to meet his gaze. Johnny offered him a small smile in return and tilted his head towards the rest of the group. Jeno’s eyes quickly darted from person to person, seeing varying looks of awkwardness and uncomfortability on each. _Oh._ Realizing the mood he had set, Jeno released Renjun’s arm and took a step back.

“Look,” Jeno said, taking a seat. “I was just, uh,” _He had really backed himself into a corner with the beginning of that sentence._ “I was worried, okay?” He tried to shrug it off.

“I.. well, to be honest, I didn’t think anyone would care,” Renjun said, flashing a weak smile to Jeno.

“You’re family now, Renjunie,” Jaemin said, slinging his arms around Renjun’s waist. “Of course we care.” Renjun nodded to Jaemin and carefully took a seat on the couch, trying his best to not disturb John.

“Good, you’re all here,” Haechan’s voice rang from the front door as it was pushed open. “Were you followed? I had to walk around _forever_ to shake the guys that were following me.”

“We blinked,” Jisung shook his head. “And before you ask, no one saw.”

“Bathroom?” Haechan asked, flopping down in an open chair across from the group. “You know it’s just as suspicious when a group of guys walk into a bathroom and never come out, right?”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Jisung trailed off. “I’ll keep it in mind for next time we all walk into a bathroom together.” Shaking off his comment, Haechan directed his attention to Johnny.

“Did Mark make it back yet?” He craned his neck, looking at each of the closed doors down the hallway. “Has _anyone_ come back yet?”

“Most everyone is taking the long way back,” Johnny explained. “Making extra sure they aren’t being followed and everything. They should be here pretty soon.”

“Good,” Haechan nodded. “We need to figure out what we’re doing.”

* * *

It took another hour for everyone to crowd into the apartment. In total there were fourteen people scattered around the room, seated wherever they could find a space. Jeno looked around the room, taking in everyone’s faces - _he couldn’t remember the last time they had all been together like this._

Seated around the kitchen table there was Taeyoung, Jaehyun, Yuta, and Mark. Those four had been with the group the longest, excluding Johnny. Just in front of them, Taeil and Doyoung were having a conversation at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living area. Jaemin, Jisung and Jungwoo had all managed to squeeze onto the couch, Jaemin’s legs overlapping with Jungwoo’s who had squeezed between him and Jisung. Johnny and Chenle were each in a chair across from the couch, Haechan sitting on the arm of Johnny’s chair. Finally, Jeno and Renjun had taken a seat on the floor of the living room, John still happily asleep in Renjun’s lap. The small groups talked separately until Taeyoung stood up, banging his hand on the table a few times to get everyone’s attention.

“Guys,” he started with a smile. “It’s been a while since we were all crowded together like this, huh?” a few _“Yeahs”_ were heard from around the room as he continued. “We’re here today to, first, welcome two new members to our group.” He gestured to the living room. “Can you two introduce yourselves and, if you’re comfortable sharing, explain your mutation.”

“I guess I can go first,” Chenle said, looking down to Renjun before pushing himself up out of his chair. “I’m Chenle, I’m originally from China but I moved here with my mom a few years ago. These guys,” he gestured to Jaemin and Jisung in front of him. “Picked me up this morning and, uh, well my mutation is better shown, but to try to put it into words…” he paused, searching for a description. “I guess you can say I have good aim.”

“I think I’m going to need a demonstration,” Jungwoo said loudly from the couch.

“Sure,” Chenle nodded with a smile, digging into his pockets and pulling out two small knives. “Hold this.. No, this way.” He handed the knife to Jungwoo, blade down. Its hadle was a nice polished wood with something inscribed into the side. Chenle put as much room between him and Jungwoo as he could, pushing his back to the apartment wall. He angled himself towards Jungwoo and reared back his arm, as if to throw the knife in his hand. “Oh, yeah, uh,” he gestured to the people around him. “Probably don’t move.” Again, he reared back his arm and this time released the knife in one smooth motion. The knife spun through the air at an incredible speed, wedging itself into the very tip of the one Jungwoo was holding in a blink of an eye. The room erupted in a roar of claps and cheers and Chenle collected his knives and took a seat. 

“Very cool, very cool,” Taeyoung said, trying to regroup. “And the other person?”

“That’s me,” Renjun said, wedging his arms under John before slowly pushing himself to his feet. “My name is Renjun and this is John.” He tilted his head to gesture to the sleeping cat. “I’m also originally from China but I’ve been in Korea for a while, I was picked up yesterday.” He flashed a quick smile down to Jeno before continuing his introduction. “My mutation is also a little hard to show, but I can talk to animals.”

“That explains the cat,” Johnny nodded quietly to himself.

“So, is John like your familiar then?” Mark asked, raising his hand from the kitchen.

“No,” Renjun laughed. “He’s just a cat I met yesterday.”

“Wait,” Taeyoung paused. “You met him yesterday? If that’s the case then why did you bring him with you?”

“It’s going to sound kinda strange, but he promised to get me something to eat and in exchange I was going to take him wherever I was planning on sleeping.”

“That’s _crazy_ ,” Mark sang. “What do you mean he was going to get you something to eat?”

“I was homeless,” Renjun sighed, looking like he was trying to avoid the subject. “I hadn’t eaten in a couple days and I was desperate. When he offered I figured it was worth a try. Anyways,” he shook his head, trying to change the subject. “He’s a pretty good guy, so I think I want to keep him around for a while.” Taeyoung nodded and once again stood up, motioning at Renjun to take a seat.

“Well, we’re happy to have you two, or sorry - three, join the family.” He smiled as the group burst into a short-lived applause. “Now we get to talk about the pressing business. As some of you have already heard, the Dream apartment was broken into this morning and several of the members were being followed throughout the day. I don’t want to cause anyone to panic, but I think that we need to take this seriously. First, we need to find somewhere safe for them to stay. For the safety of everyone else I think it’ll be best to find them a separate location outside of Seoul. If anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears.” After a brief silence Chenle half-raised his hand.

“Well, my family owns some property in Sokcho,” he said, pulling out his phone. “We haven’t used it in a while and it’s big enough for _at least_ ten people.”

“That would be perfect,” Taeyoung smiled. “Maybe check with your family to make sure they’re okay with you using it first, but if it’s all good that’s an awesome location.”

“That worked out nicely,” Jaehyun said from the kitchen. “Was that all we came here for?”

“We still need to figure out who was following them,” Mark reminded him. “And who broke into their place, _and why_ . I mean, guess we kinda know why, but I mean more specifically why _them_ , you know? Haechan, didn’t you say the guy inside of the carnival was specifically following Jeno?”

“Yeah,” Haechan nodded. “It may have just been that Jeno was the first one he spotted.”

“Jeno, do you remember anything significant about him?” Taeyoung asked, slowly walking into the living room as he spoke. “Was he wearing any company logo? Have any scars or tattoos?”

“Nothing like that,” Jeno shook his head.

“It seemed like he already knew about his arms,” Renjun offered. “I don’t remember getting close enough for him to get a good look, it seemed more like he was focused on them from the start.”

“So he probably already knew about you guys,” Jaehyun nodded. “Or about Jeno at the very least.”

“Okay, well that’s something,” Taeyoung trailed off as he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. “That’s weird. Sorry guys, give me a second,” He said, bringing the phone to his ear. “Ten? Hey, can I call you back? We’re in the middle of a- okay, _woah_ , slow down.” Even though he didn’t have the call on speaker it was obvious the person on the other end, Ten, was frantic. Jeno remembered meeting Ten, and everyone else in the group they called _Vision_ , a few times, thought they weren’t around as much as the other members because they were based out of Jeju Island, a considerable distance from Seoul.

“Okay, start over, _slowly_ this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "oh dude, he's flirting..."
> 
> i decided to post the first two (i guess technically 3??) chapters in one day :) i hope you enjoyed it! just in case anyone was wondering, the outfit renjun is wearing is jaemin's 190307 look
> 
> the next chapter is a really fun one, we're going to get to see everyone's powers *in action*


	4. BOOM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Footsteps. Smoke. Gunshots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR TW: this chapter has descriptions of fighting (physical), injury, guns/gunshots, and death. please read with caution :)

“Do ya’ hear that?” John asked Renjun, his head suddenly shooting upwards. He had been sleeping peacefully in Renjun’s lap since he came to get him from the Dream unit’s apartment, but now he was fully alert, his eyes wide.

“Me? No, I don’t hear anything.” Renjun shrugged, focused on Taeyoung’s phone call. 

“Seriously, kid, focus will ya’?” John insisted, jumping from Renjun’s lap and moving closer to the door. “Something’s coming.” 

“It’s an apartment building, it’s probably just a family going home or something,” he shrugged. John took a few steps closer to the door, his body tense. Renjun sighed, took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing outside of the room. Without having been there, it was like he had a perfect map of the apartment building in his mind. He felt sound bounce from the hallway walls, mentally following it down the stairs he was met with the _booming_ sound of feet rushing towards him. “Okay, that’s _definitely_ not a family,” he said under his breath. “Johnny?” Renjun patted Johnny’s leg from his place on the floor. “Do you usually have a lot of loud people using the stairs here?” 

“What? I mean, no, not really. Why do you ask?” Johnny shrugged, obviously confused by Renjun’s sudden question.

“John heard something loud coming up the stairs, like, _really loud_. I think there’s a group of people coming.”

“Are we talking, like, bad people? Or are we talking about more of a bachelorette party situation?” Johnny asked. As if it was answering his question the front door of the apartment suddenly burst open, letting in a thick cloud of gas.

“SMOKE!” Jaemin yelled suddenly, jumping up from his spot on the couch and covering his mouth.

“It’s tear gas,” Taeyoung yelled, phone still up to his ear. “Ten, I think you were right!”

“I got it!” Taeil yelled as he rushed to the door. The gas had grown even thicker at an alarming rate, causing most of the group to begin to choke. Calmly, Taeil lifted his hands with his palms out, raised them over his head, and slammed them forward. A shockwave echoed from his fingertips, sending the smoke forcefully back into the hallway.

“Everyone back up!” Renjun yelled. “There’s a lot of people out there.” Most of the group followed his command, retreating behind furniture or half-walls. Renjun didn't move, determined to face teh intruders head-on. Taking a deep breath he felt a cold hand grab his shoulder, pulling him backwards. _Jeno_. 

“Stay behind me,” Jeno commanded, his face dawned with an expression Renjun had never seen before. He was scowling, but not in anger - it was more of an undaunted determination than anything else. Seeing that it would have been no use arguing, Renjun obliged, taking a step back so Jeno’s body was completely in front of his own. 

“I _can_ fight,” Renjun assured him. He’d had to fight his fair share of people while he was living on the streets. 

“Fighting a couple of kids is nothing compared to-” He was cut off by a scream - _no,_ a battle cry - as a heavily armored brigade barged into the apartment. Some were armed with guns, some with tasers, and others with nightsticks. The force pushed deep into the apartment, some making it all of the way into the kitchen before engaging with one of the mutants. 

_This is about to suck, isn’t it?_

* * *

The first person to get hit was Taeil, who was closest to the door. One of the armored fighters managed to smack him in the back of the knee with their nightstick, his leg fell out from under him as he winced in pain. Taeil lifted his hand and the person who hit him following it into the air. For a split second Taeil allowed the person to hang there before slamming them to the ground. 

“I’m out,” Taeil yelled to the group, his leg still collapsed behind him. “I can’t feel my fucking leg.”

“That was quick,” Haechan teased as he tucked his hands under Taeil’s arms, dragging him as quickly as he could to the corner of the room. “Stay here, old man.”

“Whatever,” Taeil grumbled. 

Haechan turned away just in time to grab another attacker, shoving a blinding ball of light to their eyes. The attacker screamed and fell to the ground, unable to see. Before they could do anything further, Taeil moved his hand swiftly and the person followed, rising to the ceiling before slamming harshly back to the floor, unconscious. 

On the other side of the room, in the kitchen area, Mark was doing his best to fend off two attackers- one from the front and one from behind. Dodging one of their attacks another version of himself would appear to deliver a blow. He seamlessly danced between the two attackers as multiples of himself would appear and disappear at will. At any given time there were _at least_ two Marks, helping to fend off the assailants.

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Taeyoung’s voice rang out above the fighting. He was back in the kitchen, approaching one of Mark’s attackers. “Let’s do something about this.” In a single sweep Taeyoung began to spin and dropped to the ground, kicking the legs from beneath one of the attackers. Swiftly climbing onto one of them, Taeyoung snatched the nightstick from their hand and slid it out of reach before landing a flurry of punches to their face. When he was sure the person was incapacitated he pushed himself to his feet, another attacker appearing just before him as he did. With little time to react he began to jump backwards but, to his surprise, the person didn’t attack. Instead, they fell to the ground, the remains of a clay vase falling with them. Looking up he saw Chenle with a wide smile from across the room.

“I figured you’d rather me toss a vase instead of one of my knives.” Chenle yelled over the commotion.

“You’d be right,” Taeyoung nodded. If there was one thing he repeated more than anything when they trained, it was that they didn’t kill people - _e v e r._ No matter how bad it got, or how many enemies they faced, the fact that they were only fighting to defend themselves was the only thing they had over those trying to capture them. Anything other than that and the mutants would be just as bad as they were.

“Taeyoung,” Yuta shouted from across the room. “The sink!” Taeyoung nodded, flipping on the sink. The water from the spout flew across the room, surrounding Yuta in a few flowing rings. Some water also collected beneath him in a column, making him appear to be floating. Taking a seat on the column he crossed his legs and closed his eyes, placing his hands neatly onto his knees with his palms up. As attackers approached him they were quickly shot down by a laser thin bolt of boiling hot water, or surrounded by a huge ball of it. 

Back in the living room Jeno and Jaehyun were moving from target to target with ease. As Jaehyun would grab assailants away from the others, Jeno would knock them out. Jaehyun moved further into the apartment, grabbing an injured Doyoung by the arm and dragging him into one of the back rooms. 

“I can still fight,” Doyoung protested, trying to wiggle out of Jaehyun’s grip. “I’m fine, seriously.” 

“You’re done,” Jaehyun said simply, all but tossing him into one of the bedrooms and slamming the door. “Stay there, I’m serious.” Doyoung scowled as he reached for the door handle, but was stopped by another hand.

“You got put in time-out too?” Jaemin rolled his eyes as he pulled on Doyoung’s hand. “It’s best if you stay here, then.” He motioned to the bed where Jisung was sitting, his knees tucked tightly to his chest.

“Are they almost done?” Jisung asked quietly, not bothering to lift his head.

“Not even close,” Doyoung sighed, taking a seat on the floor beside the bed. “Every time I turned around it’s like there were more of them.” He glanced down at his arm, watching fresh blood stream down to his fingertips. He had never claimed to be a _good_ fighter, but he could usually hold his own when he needed to. 

“ _I hate fighting,_ ” Jisung huffed. "Why can't they just leave us alone?"

“Watch Jisung for me,” Jaemin said as he handed Doyoung a large kitchen knife. “I’m going to go help.” Before either Jisung or Doyoung could protest he was gone, quietly closing the door behind him.

Jaemin stepped outside to see nothing short of a battlefield. In the kitchen Mark, Taeyoung, Chenle, and Yuta were together trying to fight off more than a dozen people, with Jungwoo and Johnny right behind them by the breakfast bar. In the living room Jaehyun, Jeno, Renjun, and Haechan were surrounded by more, but seemed to be fighting well. Hesitating for a second, trying to decide where he was most needed, he watched as Haechan was grabbed by two attackers, both wielding nightsticks. The first reared back and struck Haechan directly behind his right knee, causing him to fall to the ground.

“I think you should drop that,” Jaemin shouted, pointing to Haechan’s other attacker as he rushed towards him. “And I think that you should both walk out of this room and go home.” The two attackers did as he said, dropping their weapons and calmly walking through the chaos. “Can you walk?” Haechan nodded as Jaemin helped him to his feet. “Good, go into your bedroom. That’s where Jaehyun has been dumping all of the injured people.” 

“Fine,” Haechan huffed. “But for the record, I can still fight.”

“That’s what they all say,” Jaemin give him a quick wink before turning back to the fight. Spotting Taeil still on the floor in the corner of the room he snuck around the perimeter to get to him. “Good news,” Jaemin smiled, guiding Taeil’s arm around his shoulders and hoisting him up. “I’ve got a new hiding spot for you.”

“I can still-”

“Fight?” Jaemin finished his sentence. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” The two started to slowly make their way back to the other side of the apartment, dodging attacks from attackers and counterattacks from the other mutants.

“Watch out!” Jeno yelled, grabbing Renjun by the shirt as he pulled him behind the couch, taking out an assailant in his path with one strong blow to the head. “You’re really a magnet for these guys, huh?” Another person approached them, stopping just out of reach and pulling their weapon. Jeno tossed his arms in front of his face just in time to hear the ping of bullets bounce off of his metal skin, like rain bouncing off of an umbrella. He turned around to yet another attacker, who had put their gun to Renjun’s forehead. Before he fully understood what he was doing his hand was around the barrel of the gun, covering the muzzle with his thumb. Squeezing, he felt the barrel collapse under the pressure, trapping a bullet inside. Jeno’s head shot to the person holding the gun, who, _frankly_ , looked terrified. With one clean punch they fell to the ground, completely unconscious.

“Thanks-” Renjun nodded. Jeno nodded in return and turned his back to Renjun, scanning the other side of the room.

" _There are too many of them,_ he thought. The group had been in fights before, but never anything this bad. Jeno hesitated for a second, not sure what his next move should be. Before he could move, his ears rang with the sound of a blood-curdling scream coming from behind him. 

_Renjun._

Jeno whipped his head around to him just in time to watch a bullet exit his chest. Diving to his side, he caught him just as Renjun’s unconscious body began to fall. Jeno slid his hand under his head and guided it to the ground. Bringing his other hand to Renjun’s neck he placed two fingers to it, trying to search for a pulse.

 _Fuck_. He couldn’t feel a thing through his metal finger tips.

Trying a different method, he brought his head close to Renjun’s, tilting his ear to his nose, trying to listen for breathing. Still nothing. Jeno scanned his body, not being able to focus on anything except for the whole in his chest and the pool of blood that was seeping out of it. _How could this have happened? He was right there, no one had a gun when he had turned away and now, suddenly-_ Jeno shook his head, trying to pull himself together. "Stay here," He commanded Renjun's limp body as he pushed it as close to the couch as he could. Collected enough to move again, Jeno took a running leap in the direction the bullet had come, landing on the back of an armored person holding a nightstick.

“Unit Three,” the person yelled into their walkie-talkie as Jeno furiously bashed his fist against whatever body part it would hit. “Requesting back-up! Code eight-five. Repeat code eight-” Jeno landed one last punch before the person fell to the ground.

“ _This isn’t good_ ,” Taeyoung thought, looking out to the group, _his group_. Almost everyone was fighting someone, and those who weren’t were badly injured. He turned to Jaemin, who was now behind him, just as finished whispering in an attacker’s ear. The person slowly un-holstered their taser, pointed it to their own chest, and pulled the trigger, almost instantly falling to the ground.

“I’m getting really sick of this,” Jaemin yelled to Taeyoung, who nodded in agreement. 

“ _Jisung! Where are you?”_ Taeyoung’s thought rang through the mind of every conscious mutant in the room.

“ _Haechan’s bedroom, with some of the injured people._ ” Jisung’s voice echoed in his mind. “ _You can’t make me fight_ , _Taeyoung._ ” 

“ _I don’t want you to.”_ Of course Jisung was hiding. Ever since the two had met Jisung had been overly cautious, so it was no surprise that he was trying to avoid the fight. “ _I want you to start blinking people out of here. Start with the injured._ _Bring them to the Vision dorm, okay?”_

“ _I can do that._ ” Jisung's thought echoed through Taeyoung's mind. Within seconds puffs of neon green smoke began to appear in every corner of the apartment and the mutants started to disappear. 

_“Okay, guys, let’s finish this.”_ With a deep breath Taeyoung leapt up, catching the fist of someone just before it connected with Jungwoo’s cheek. 

“I had it,” Jungwoo shouted, grabbing a knife from one of the kitchen drawers and lunging it towards his attacker. Catching them in the wrist, he used the split second of distraction to pull the taser from the person’s holster and fire it, causing them to crumple to the ground.

“That was my good knife!” Johnny sighed, backing into Jungwoo. 

“My bad,” Jungwoo pouted. “Next time I’ll be sure to use one of your shitty knives.”

Taking a split second to scan the room, Taeyoung saw that there were only a couple of people left: Mark, along with the now three other versions of himself who were all darting around the apartment fighting whoever they saw first, Jeno, who was plowing through people in a full rage, Johnny and Jungwoo. There were still _at least_ two dozen armored people scattered around, fighting with all they had.

Jisung appeared in between Johnny and Jungwoo, grabbing both of them as four armored fighters closed in around them. In a blink of an eye they were gone and Jisung was a few feet back, this time grabbing Taeyoung from the middle of a group.

 _"_ This is so… _tiring."_ He panted as he disappeared with Tayoung and suddenly reappeared, alone, into the group of Marks. Grabbing one of them, then realizing it wasn’t the original, he jumped to the next one. 

“Are you real?” he asked, grabbing the Mark’s arm.

“Yeah,” Mark answered with a nod. “What are you-” In an instant he and Jisung disappeared.

Struggling to take a decent breath, Jisung entered the apartment one last time. Jeno was still jumping from person to person, deflecting bullets and taser barbs with his arms as he punched wildly. " _Jeno is seriously scary,"_ he said under his breath _,_ Blinking behind him. Quickly placing a hand on Jeno’s back, Jisung took a quick breath. " _Last one._ "

And just like that, the mutants were gone, leaving nothing but the group of confused would-be abductors alone in the now trashed apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we can't have anything nice in this house...
> 
> i really love writing about the guys using their powers, hopefully i gave a good description!! let me know in the comments if you think the powers i chose match the person well, or if you'd like an explanation about why i chose someone's!!


	5. Face to Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Light. Blood. Bandages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mention of death, extremely slight gore (description of wounds), a LOT of blood. please read with caution :)

_“Renjun? I’m sorry but I simply must wake you, darling._ ”

A light voice rang out in the darkness. Where was he? How did he get here? The last thing Renjun remembered was being in the apartment with the rest of the mutants, he introduced himself and- 

_Wait_ , _there was a fight, wasn’t there?_

Renjun frantically turned his head, searching for anything in the blank landscape. Far away, he saw a small, dim light. It couldn’t have been larger than he was, but even from the distance he was it was the brightest thing he had ever seen. Beginning to move in its direction he heard the voice again.

_“Darling, I wouldn’t go towards that if I were you.”_

The voice sounded closer, yet there was nothing around him. He opened his mouth to speak but his voice didn’t seem to work.

 _“Where am I? I’m around here somewhere, it’s not that important my dear, I’ll come to you.”_ Almost immediately Renjun felt something graze his leg. Looking down, he saw a small, perfectly white fox with stunning blue eyes. The fox tilted it’s head up, seemingly smiling at Renjun. “ _Don’t be frightened, dear. My name is Zenko, I’m here to help you get out of this little… situation.”_ Zenko began to walk away, in the opposite direction of the small light. “ _Please keep up, darling.”_

Renjun jogged to catch up to Zenko as she continued to walk into the darkness. While all of their surroundings were black, he could see perfectly; it was almost as if the darkness was also generating light. “ _This place is marvelous, isn’t it?”_ She paused, as if waiting for a reply. “ _Oh, my mistake, darling, you won’t be able to speak here. Something about being between worlds gets your human body a bit confused, luckily for you I can hear your thoughts.”_ Zenko laughed. 

She led him so deep into the darkness that the small light at the other end disappeared, leaving her and Renjun alone. “ _Do you remember dying?”_ Renjun’s head shot down to Zenko at the mention of his death. Of course he didn’t remember dying, how could he have? How could he even be dead? He was standing right here, fully conscious. “ _I supposed not. No need to panic, darling, Kun will be waking you up shortly._ ” Suddenly, Renjun felt a sharp pain run through his body, as if he had been electrocuted. The electricity shot through every inch of him, seizing every nerve he had.

“ _The word death is a fickle thing, you know? Though your heart may have stopped beating, something simple as a little shock can start it right back up.”_ Another wave of intense pain brought Renjun to his knees.

 _“It seems like we don’t have much time left together, I was hoping for longer, but I guess this will have to do. Do you know how much you are capable of, dear? It’s not just talking with animals, if you center yourself you’ll be able to do so much more. You and I aren’t so different, after all.”_ Renjun felt another sharp pain shoot through his body, though it felt less like electricity and more like knives.

“ _They almost have you back,”_ Zenko nodded, watching Renjun wince with pain. _“You know, they really do care for you - even if you did just meet. You should have seen the way Jeno fought after you went down, it was truly amazing.”_

“Renjun?” a familiar voice rang out through the darkness, surrounding him. “Come on, I know you’re not done yet.” 

“ _You’ve been gone for some time now, to them at least. Maybe it’s time you leave me.”_

“Renjun,” the voice repeated, in a quiet, desperate tone. “Please. I was supposed to be protecting you, _I told you that I would protect you_ .” Renjun felt the warmth of something press against his forehead as a drop of something hot landed on his cheek. “I was right there, and I still couldn’t… I just…” the voice was faint, now almost entirely at a whisper. “I’m so sorry. Renjun, I’m so, _so_ sorry. I should have been watching you or… _fuck_ I don’t know.”

“ _He’s been like this for a while,”_ Zenko sighed. “ _Poor boy. He really thinks he got you killed.”_

“John misses you,” the voice sniffed, taking a few deep breaths. “Kun won’t let him in here anymore, so he’s been sleeping with me on the couch. I finally stopped sneezing when he’s around, I think my allergies are getting better.” The voice stopped as the warmth on Renjun’s forehead disappeared. “This is pointless, I know you can’t hear me. I’ve been coming here for weeks, just sitting here and crying. What good is it doing?” 

“ _All the others left a few days after the attack, the world kept moving, after all, but not him. He has come back every day, sitting with you for hours while he waits for you to wake up.”_

“It’s stupid to say I love you, right?” Renjun felt another set of deep stabs to his chest. “I mean, we barely knew each other but, _I don’t know_ … I just felt something… different. I know it’s ridiculous.” Even if he could have spoken, Renjun’s head was cleared of any thoughts. _Love?_

“ _Go ahead,”_ Zenko turned her head towards a dim light that had appeared beside her. This light was somehow different from the one he has walked away from earlier. “ _He’s going to be happy to see you.”_ Renjun nodded, pushing himself to his feet and walking towards the light. 

“ _I’ll see you again soon, Renjun_.”

* * *

“Yangyang, over here!” Jisung yelled frantically as he placed Renjun’s lifeless body on top of a table and disappeared in a puff of neon green smoke.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Yangyang yelled, rushing over to the table, which was in the center of the kitchen. They were currently at another one of the mutant dorms, one they decided to nickname _Vision_ . Their kitchen was serving as a medical bay as more of the injured were being brought in. The normal _Vision_ residents: Yangyang, Ten, Winwin, Xiaojun, Lucas, Hendery and Kun, had jumped into action when the first injured mutant had been blinked into their homes, quickly clearing surfaces and moving furniture pieces to accommodate the others. “Kun, get over here!” He hovered his hands over Renjun, focusing on the hole in his chest. 

He couldn’t remember _ever_ seeing this much blood come out of a person. His clothing, the table, and the floor beneath them were all soaked in the boy’s blood, a trail of it spattered along the ground where Jisung had walked with him.

“Yangyang I can’t rush over to every new person, some of these guys are seriously injured and- _oh my god._ ” Kun stopped in his tracks at the sight of Renjun’s body. He’d seen a lot of bad injuries in his day but, _fuck_ , _this one was really bad._ “Move.” He pushed himself close to the table, placing each of his hands palm down on Renjun’s forehead. “There’s no brain activity,” He said seriously as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, staying perfectly still. Slowly, he began to move his hands towards Renjun’s chest, stopping over the hole. “ _Fuck_ ,” he whispered, his eyes still closed as his hands lingered. “The bullet went right through his heart, I don’t know how much I can do.”

“There’s no harm in trying, right?” Yanyang asked, circling around to the other side of the table. Kun nodded before quickly turning his attention back to Renjun.

“First thing’s first, let’s fix this hole.” Kun lightly pressed his hands to Renjun’s chest, feeling the skin repair itself under his palms. Once he was sure it was completely healed he lifted his hands and opened his eyes. Checking his chest to make sure everything else was intact, Kun quickly grabbed a towel from one of the drawers to wipe away some of the blood. “Alright, now let’s try to stabilize him. Have you ever been a defibrillator before?” 

“Not a chance,” Yangyang said, shaking his head. 

“Great,” Kun sighed. “Put one hand over his heart and one about the same place on the other side.” Yanyang did as he instructed, placing his hands on either side of Renjun’s chest, and looked to Kun for an ‘okay’.

“Are you sure about this?”

“I’m not even sure if I put his heart back together, we just have to try,” Kun quickly scanned his surrounds, making sure Jisung hadn’t brought in anyone else that was seriously injured. His kitchen was packed with the wounded, with those who could move around trying their best to aid the ones who couldn’t.

“Alright, give me the signal then, leader.”

“Okay,” Kun readied himself, taking a step back from the table. “Three, two, one.” Yangyang’s fingers glowed with a blue electrical light as he pressed his hands onto Renjun’s chest, causing his body to slightly jump. A few gasps were heard from around the room as some of the mutants watched. “Any pulse?”

“I can’t find one,” Yangyang shook his head. “One more time?”

“Yeah, a little bit more power this time,” Kun agreed. “ _Come on kid, you can do this,”_ He said under his breath, braced himself again. “Three, two, one.” Once again, Yangyang pushed the electricity flowing through his hands into Renjun’s body, causing it to jump again. Kun took a step back to the table, pressing two fingers to Renjun’s neck.

“I found a pulse!” He said loudly with a smile.

“I _can not_ believe that worked,” Yangyang smiled back, lifting his blood covered hands away from Renjun’s body.

“You stay here with him and make sure he keeps breathing,” Kun commanded, handing him a clean towel. “I’m going to go check on the people Jisung just brought in.” Kun turned from the table and made his way deeper into the kitchen where the others had been dropped. There were even more people than before, most with pain painted over their faces, bleeding from _somewhere_. Scanning to determine who’s injury was the most urgent, he turned to Doyoung, who was gripping a blood soaked t-shirt over his arm.

“Doyoung,” Kun said, raising a hand to get his attention through the chaos. “Let me take a look.”

“It’s not bad,” Doyoung said through a pained smile. “Haechan will do a lot worse when he finds out I ruined one of his shirts.” Kun flashed him a smile before peeling the shirt away from the wound. The cut, which ran down the entirety of his forearm, was so deep that Kun could clearly see Doyoung’s radial bone.

“What happened?” Kun asked, placing both of his hands over the gash. “I haven’t seen anyone else with a cut like this.”

“I guess I got the one person who had a knife,” Doyoung winced. “It was actually more of a machete, but who’s keeping track?”

“I’ll heal what I can for now,” Kun said, slightly tightening his grip on Doyoung’s arm. He could feel his muscle and tissue begin to mend under his warm palms. “But it’ll probably be best if I do it in three or four separate tries, just so everything mends the right way.”

“You’re the doctor,” Doyoung smirked.

“Legally, no I’m not,” Kun laughed, pulling his hands back before wiping them down and grabbing a bandage and some gauze from his pockets. “This should hold it for now, next week we’ll do a little more.” Doyoung nodded in response before Kun turned away, looking for his next patient. Across the kitchen watched as Jisung, along with Jungwoo and Johnny, appeared in the corner.

“Thanks,” Johnny barely had time to get his word out before Jisung was gone.

“You two okay?” Kun called, taking a few steps closer.

“We’re good,” Jungwoo called back, flashing a thumbs-up. “How about you guys?”

“I don’t think my kitchen table will ever recover,” Kun said lightly. “But other than that, we’re fine.”

“I think we can get a new-” Johnny was cut off by a scream, followed by a large crashing sound. Whipping his head around, he watched as Jisung fell to the ground, Jeno standing over him with blood soaked hands.

“Take me back,” Jeno commanded, grabbing Jisung by the shirt and pulling him back to his feet. “I wasn’t finished.”

“Jeno, I-” Jisung stuttered, trying to squirm free of his grasp. “Please, stop. It’s over.”

“Jisung,” Jeno said sternly, a look of blind rage covering his face. “Take me back there right now or I’m going to-”

“That’s enough, Jeno,” Johnny said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Let him go.”

“Not until he-”

“Jeno,” Johnny stopped him. “Everyone is injured. There’s no point in going back to fight by yourself, alright?” Jeno looked up to him, scowling, before releasing his hold on Jisung.

“Renjun,” Jeno commanded quietly, not bothering to turn his head to Jisung as he spoke. “Where is he?”

“I put him on the kitchen table,” Jisung’s voice shook as he spoke. Jeno began to walk away before he even finished his sentence. “But, listen, _Jeno listen to me!_ ” Jisung grabbed Jeno’s arm, refusing to let him move any further. “It’s not good.” Jeno stood there for a few seconds, silent.

“Why would you say that to me?” Jeno’s head snapped around as his eyes met with Jisung’s. “What the hell do you mean? Why the _fuck_ would you say that to me you-” Jaemin suddenly interrupted as Jeno’s volume increased.

“I think you should sit down and rest for a while,” Jaemin said gently, placing his arm around Jisung. Jeno’s body suddenly relaxed as he turned around, emotionless, and headed towards the nearest chair.

“I just… I didn’t want him to see…” Jisung trailed off, obviously shaken by Jeno’s sudden yelling. “He was bleeding _so much_ , and…” He trailed off as his eyes met his hands, which were soaked in blood. “I was just trying to help.”

“I know,” Jaemin nodded, ruffling his hand through Jisung’s hair. “He’s just upset, I’m sure he didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“I’ve never seen him like that before,” Jisung whispered, his eyes still locked onto his hands.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, huh?” Jaemin said with a small smile, putting his arm around Jisung’s waist and guiding him to the kitchen sink. “You did good today, Jisung.”

“Look at everyone,” Jisung said with his head down as the cool water from the sink ran over his hands. “If I would have thought about blinking everyone out earlier instead of hiding, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We would all be safe and everyone would be okay and-”

“None of this is your fault,” Jaemin stopped him. “We _are_ all safe because of you, hell, you even saved Renjun’s cat.” He motioned to John, who had suddenly appeared at their feet. “Don’t put this on yourself, okay?”

“But Renjun would have never-”

“No,” Jaemin stopped him again. “Renjun made his own decisions, that’s not on you. You did everything right, okay?”

“Okay,” Jisung gave him a small nod before turning off the water.

“Jisung!” Taeyoung called, pushing past a couple of mutants to get to him. “Is everyone here?” Coming beside Jisung, he placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Jisung nodded. “I tried to get everyone out as quickly as I could.” Taeyoung smiled and pulled him into a loose hug.

“You did great,” he said, patting him on the back. “Seriously, you saved our asses.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Jisung laughed awkwardly as Taeyoung released him.

“Thank you, seriously.” Taeyoung said, taking a look around the kitchen. With so many people crammed into the space it was hard to get a clear view of anyone. “I think we need to regroup.”

* * *

A few minutes later and the group of twenty were crowded around the _Vision_ living room, sitting on any surface they could find. Almost all of them had been injured in some way or another, some a lot worse than others. The minor injuries - shallow cuts, bullet grazes, broken bones and such - had been completely healed by Kun while the more serious injuries - the deep cut on Doyoung’s arm and Renjun’s bullet hole, for instance - had been semi-healed and properly bandaged to the best of their ability. For what it was, a make-shift hospital in the middle of a small home’s kitchen, they had done amazing work. 

“Is everyone alright?” Taeyoung asked, settling the crowd.

“No,” Jeno said calmly, sitting perfectly still in one of the living room chairs. “Renjun is gone.”

“Gone?” Taeyoung repeated. “What happened to him?”

“Renjun was shot,” Jeno said, expressionless. “Right through the heart. He’s dead.” A single tear dropped from Jeno’s eye as a harsh silence fell through the room.

“Jeno…” 

“Actually,” Kun spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Yangyang and I managed to stabilize him. I can’t say when, or even _if_ , he’ll wake up, but at the very least he’s breathing.” Jeno shot up out of his chair, finally able to shake Jaemin’s suggestion.

“Where?” He commanded, staring directly into Kun’s eyes with staggering intensity. 

“Kitchen table,” Yangyang answered for him; Jeno left the room before anything else could be said.

“Should someone…” Doyoung started. 

“Let him go,” Jaemin shrugged. “He’s not going to stop.”

“Alright,” Taeyoung nodded, turning his attention back to the rest of the group. “Is everyone _else_ okay?”

“Yes,” Kun answered for the group. “I healed what I could and patched up the rest.”

“He was awesome, seriously,” Xiaojun, who had been aiding the injured as they were brought in, said from the living room’s floor. “He looked like a character straight out of a medical drama.” Kun nodded humbly before continuing. 

“I just wish we had some information about who these people were. They were obviously ready for a full on war.”

“I might be able to help with that,” Doyoung said, holding a crushed walkie-talkie into the air for the group to see. “I grabbed this from one of them before Jisung blinked me.” A smile grew on Taeyoung’s face as he got up to take the item from Doyoung’s hand.

“Doyoung, I could actually kiss you right now.”

“Don’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Chenle half-raised his hand as he spoke. “Can someone explain why him having a piece of garbage means anything?” A couple people around the room laughed in response.

“I can see memories attached to objects,” he explained. “Wherever this thing was I’ll be able to see and hear exactly what it would have.”

“Let’s hope it was somewhere important.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's about to get sad,,,,,,


	6. Wake Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basement. Tears. Stolen Memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: brief mention of blood, please read with caution :) also idk if this is a tw but this chapter is a little sad, sorry!

A week had passed since the fight.

“Come on, Renjun. I know you’re not done yet.” Jeno whispered, bringing the cold metal of his palm to Renjun’s cheek. He was sitting alone in the _Vision_ basement, which he, along with a few of the other mutants, had converted into a make-shift bedroom. In an effort to provide some kind of natural light to the otherwise dark room Haechan had created a few dozen floating lanterns, inside of which were small glowing orbs of pure light. Though they only casted a dim light into the room, it made a rather cozy environment. 

Every day that Jeno came to visit Renjun he would bring a new piece of decoration for the dreary basement. The first day it was a warmly colored blanket, the next it was a large potted plant.

“Are you… decorating our basement?” Ten asked one day as Jeno carried a handful of fairy lights into the _Vision_ home.

“Yeah,” Jeno shrugged, attempting to push past him.

“Okay,” Ten sang, grabbing his arm and pulling him to their couch. “We need to talk about this, Jeno.”

“Is there anything to talk about?”

“I think that..” Ten paused, selecting his words carefully. “What happened to him, you know it isn’t your fault, right?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Jeno shot back, a bit too aggressive. _Of course it was his fault, Ten had no idea what happened that day._

“Jeno,” Ten sighed. “I think you might be… Why are you decorating the basement?”

“How would you feel to wake up in a dark ass room with no windows?” Jeno asked harshly. “I’m just trying to make it a bit more comfortable, okay? Is that a problem?”

“No, of course not,” Ten answered, his tone light. “I’m just trying to make sure that you’re not doing this because you’re feeling guilty about something.”

“Well I’m not,” Jeno shrugged, pushing himself off of the couch. “Is that it?”

“Yeah,” Ten nodded, sounding a bit defeated. Jeno got to the threshold of the basement door before turning back to look at Ten. 

“Did you see it coming?” Jeno asked, expressionless. “Did you know he was going to-” he stopped himself.

“I only saw it a minute before it happened,” Ten signed, hanging his head. His mutation was fickle. Sometimes he would receive a vision, or a prophecy as the others called it, days or even years before it happened, but other times they’d come only seconds before the event. “I wish I could have warned you all sooner, but-”

" _Did you know he was going to get hurt ?"_ Jeno asked again, cutting him off.

"I saw someone fall," Ten said softly. "I didn't know who it was."

Without another word, Jeno vanished down the stairs into the basement.

* * *

A month had gone by, Renjun’s body still laying motionless in the _Vision_ dorm. 

“Please,” Jeno softly begged as he pulled his chair closer to the bed where he laid. The dim glow of lanterns and fairy lights created a comfortable aura around the room, illuminating the now almost fully furnished basement. There were a few earth toned tapestries lining the walls, a simple woven rug in the floor beside the bed, and several large potted plants lining the room among other subtle decorations.

“This is my fault. I was supposed to be protecting you, _I told you that I would protect you_ .” He leaned closer, pressing his forehead to Renjun’s as tears flowed down his cheeks. “I was right there, and I still couldn’t… I just…” he felt his voice faltering. “I’m so sorry. Renjun, I’m so, _so_ sorry. I should have been watching you or… _fuck_ I don’t know.” Jeno pushed himself back, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“Jeno?” Kun’s voice echoed down from the top of the stairs. “Are you still down here?”

“Yeah,” Jeno called back, trying to pull himself together.

“Okay well, uh, it’s getting pretty late.”

“Okay, yeah, thanks.” Jeno called. “I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

“No rush.” Jeno waited until he heard the door close before moving. Slowly he got up and began to turn off all of the lights. 

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said lightly, turning his head to Renjun, who was still perfectly still on top of the bed. “Maybe I’ll bring John over, if he’ll stop fighting with me for once.” As he turned off the last of the larger lights only the dim glow of Haechan’s lanterns remained. Making his way over to the bed he gently pulled a blanket over Renjun’s shoulders before turning to the stairs. “Goodnight.”

As he made his way back to the door he was met by Kun’s smiling face. “Hey,” he said casually. “Can we talk for a second?”

Jeno huffed, _When will they give it a rest?_ Ever since the fight some of the older mutants had made it their duty to ‘ _check in on him’_ and ‘ _make sure he was doing okay_ ’. The truth was that he _wasn’t_ okay, but that was the last thing he was going to tell any of them. Why would he? They had no idea what he was feeling, hell, _he_ didn’t even know what he was feeling. “Sure.”

Kun almost looked surprised by his answer. “Oh, good,” his smile continued. “So, uh, how are you settling into the new house?”

"Fine. It's big." Jeno raised an eyebrow. “Is that really what you want to talk about?” 

“What if I just wanted to have a nice conversation with you, huh?” Kun asked playfully. “We haven’t talked in a while.” Jeno’s expression told him that he wasn’t buying the act. “Okay, fine. I want to talk to you about Renjun, and before you brush it off, can we just try to have an actual conversation, _please?”_

“I have nothing to say,” Jeno shrugged.

“Then let me give you something to talk about," Kun said, pulling him to the couch and prompting him to sit. "Before the fight you’d known Renjun for two days, right?”

“Yeah.”

“From what I’ve heard from Jisung and Chenle you two weren’t that close.”

“Your point?”

“To be blunt," Kun sighed, choosing his words. "I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed if he wakes up.”

“ _When_ ,” Jeno shot back.

“ _When_?” Kun repeated.

“When he wakes up, not _if_.” Kun was going to argue, but the intensity on Jeno’s face told him he’d better not.

“Okay, _when_ he wakes up, he’s going to remember you like it’s the day of the fight- as the person who tackled him on the sidewalk and yelled at him for running off. He won’t know about you staying with him or remember what you’ve been telling him."

“So what?” Jeno shrugged defensively. “Who cares if I stay with him for a few hours, it’s not hurting anyone, is it?”

“It’s hurting _you_ , Jeno,” Kun answered as lightly as he could. “Everyone is really worried about you-”

“Why don’t you all worry about yourselves?” Jeno asked, pushing himself off of the couch. "I'm fine."

"You can tell yourself that as much as you want," Kun said, standing up as well. "But the truth more complicated than that. All I wanted to say is that there's a group of people here waiting to help you, but you have to let them- let _us_ \- in."

"I'm _fine_ ," Jeno repeated with a bit more force as he pushed past Kun and out of the door. The sun had just set, the streets now illuminated only lamps and neon shop signs. Jeno made his way down the block, looking for somewhere secluded to sit. _“They don’t understand, how could they?”_ He thought, pulling out his phone as he walked. After a few minutes he came across an empty park bench and took a seat. He sat there, his mind swarming. The guilt that he felt was eating him alive. No matter how many times someone told him that it wasn’t his fault he knew deep down that it was. _How could it not be?_ Jeno had been standing right there- right _fucking_ next to him. He was so much bigger than Renjun, how did the bullet not hit him instead? If only he hadn’t pulled Renjun aside, if he had pushed him away, if he would have-

Jeno took a deep breath, turning his concentration back to his phone. Opening his messaging app he looked for Jisung’s contact and sent him a quick message.

**To: pwark jisung**

10:57PM

can you come get me? on jeju

[open to see map]

**From: pwark jisung**

10:57 PM

Ofc

Be there in a sec

As promised, it only took a few seconds for Jisung to arrive. Jeno watched as he appeared across the street, emerging from between two buildings and making his way quickly to Jeno.

“How is he?” Jisung asked gently, taking a seat next to Jeno on the bench.

“Still out,” Jeno shrugged, pushing back his emotions. At any given second he felt like he was going to explode, but he _had_ to hold it in.

“Oh,” Jisung nodded. Ever since the fight there had been tension between the two, even after Jeno had apologized for yelling at him. “Maybe tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Jeno nodded back. The two sat there for a second in silence before walking back to the alley which Jisung had emerged from and blinking back to the Dream house.

“That took a while,” Jaemin greeted them. “Everything okay?”

“Fine,” Jeno responded, waving him off and making a b-line to his bedroom. The house that they were living in, the house Chenle’s family agreed to let them stay in, was massive compared to the apartment they had lived in before. In any other situation having more space would be great, but when he was trying to make a quick escape from his friend’s? _Not so much_.

“Not so fast,” Jaemin sang, stepping directly in front of him. “Have you eaten yet? Chenle cooked tonight, you’ve gotta try it.”

“I’m tired, Jaemin,” Jeno said bluntly, pushing his aside. “I’m going to sleep.”

“Jeno, you should-”

“Jaemin,” he cut him off. “Goodnight.” Without another word Jeno made his way up the stairs to his bedroom, where he quickly changed into his pajamas and turned out the lights. Jeno sat there in the darkness, John sleeping contently at the foot of his bed, as his mind in the same state it had been in for the past month: refusing to rest.

_I shouldn’t have moved him behind me, I should have told him to go hide. I should have pushed him farther away after I took out the first gunman. I should have-_

* * *

A month turned into two as Jeno fell deeper into his grief.

“John misses you,” Jeno said through long breaths. It felt like every time he came into Renjun’s room he started to cry, _he was trying to stop_ . “Kun won’t let him stay here anymore after he started fighting with the other cats, so he’s been sleeping with me in the new house.” For a brief second he allowed himself to crack a smile, something he hadn’t done in a _very_ long time. “I finally stopped sneezing when he’s around, I think my allergies are getting better.” Jeno sighed, pushing himself out of his chair. He had already been here for several hours, talking to Renjun, who was still unconscious. “This is pointless, I know you can’t hear me. I’ve been coming here for months, just sitting here and crying. What good is it doing?” He shook his head, pacing the floor in front of Renjun’s bed. “I know it’s crazy, but you’re the only person I can talk to about this. If I tell anyone else they’ll think I’m-” he stopped himself. _What would they think_? 

At that moment it was as if all of his emotions from the past months boiled over, engulfing him in a mixture of intense sadness and rage. Deciding it was best to leave, he said a quick goodbye to Renjun and slipped out of the _Vision_ house without a word to anyone else. 

It was a beautiful fall day on Jeju Island, just barely cool enough for Jeno to warrant wearing a long coat and a turtleneck. He began walking down the sidewalk towards the docks, briefly checking his phone as he did. 

**From: nana jaemin**

8:43 PM

jeno leeeeee

where are you????????? are you at visions place again?????

i bet you are

how is renjunie????

**From: nana jaemin**

9:50 PM

jenooooooooooooo you know i hate it when you don’t answer me

jeno really, please text me SOMETHING

you know we’re all worried about you right?

Jeno tapped away from Jaemin’s messages to another text thread.

**From: doyoung**

9:52 PM

Hey, where are you at right now? There’s something I want to show you.

_Seems harmless enough_. 

**To: doyoung**

9:53PM

I just left vision

I’m still on jeju

**From: doyoung**

9:53 PM

Oh perfect, so am I

Meet me here?

[open to see map]

Doyoung sent him the location of a small park that was a few blocks away from the docks. Jeno made his way there quickly, spotting Doyoung sitting on a bench not too far from the entrance. 

“Jeno!” Doyoung said with a smile, putting his hand into the air to make sure that Jeno spotted him.

“Hey,” Jeno responded with a smile, taking a seat beside him. “What’s up?”

“I’ve been talking to Kun, he told me you’ve been spending a lot of time at their apartment lately,” Doyoung said as he reached into his pocket. “So I figured I’d ask since I was here. You’re familiar with my mutation right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jeno hesitated. To be honest, he didn’t know much about Doyonug’s mutation beside the extremely basic ‘ _he can see memories_ ’. “Kind of. Did something happen?” 

“No, no nothing like that,” Doyoung assured him. “To give you the short version I found this while I was helping Johnny gather some things from our old apartment,” he held out his hand to show Jeno a small charm. It was about the size of his thumb, shaped like a chunky white cartoon character that Jeno only partially recognized.

“What is it?” Jeno asked, taking the charm from Doyoung’s hand. He flipped the charm over to the back, where he could make out a few engraved Chinese characters.

“It’s not really what it is,” Doyoung said with a smirk. “But more of _where_ it’s been. Do you mind if I give you it’s memories?”

“I guess not,” Jeno shrugged. Doyoung nodded and placed two fingers into Jeno’s forehead.

With the blink of an eye Jeno was no longer sitting in a park, but was standing in a nicely decorated home. He wasn’t sure how, but he recognized it as Renjun’s childhood home. Jeno looked out, knowing he was looking through Renjun’s eyes.

“This isn’t your fault, sweetheart.” Renjun’s mother knelt down, gently placing a hand onto Renjun’s cheek. It was obvious that she was holding back tears. “We love you _so_ much, remember that, okay?”

“I know, mom,” Renjun said, placing his hand over her’s. “I’m really sorry.”

“You should go,” His father said coldly, placing his hands onto his wife’s shoulders. “They’ll be doing rounds soon.” Renjun nodded, taking a step back from his mother and turning to the door. Without another word he was gone, the sound of his parent’s cries echoing through his ears as he closed the door to his home.

Renjun walked in silence to the train station, not daring to speak unless he was spoken to. He managed to purchase his ticket and make it onto the train with ease, waiting until he was in his seat to allow himself to break down. _Where am I supposed to go? How am I going to live on my own? I’m only thirteen, I can’t even get a job._ A few hot tears flowed from his eyes as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small Moomin charm that his mother had given him for his tenth birthday. Flipping it over he saw his name engraved in the back with a small heart underneath it. 

_“We love you so much, remember that, okay?”_ His mother’s voice echoed through his mind as he ran his thumb over the heart.

Jeno blinked his- _Renjun’s_ \- eyes and was suddenly filled with the knowledge of Renjun’s life. It flashed past him, landing on the day he had met Jeno, along with the rest of the group. He watched as Renjun talked with John for the first time, as they formulated their plan and tried to carry it out.

" _That’s what the cat sounds like?"_ Jeno thought as the scene continued.

He watched himself tackle Renjun to the sidewalk, and heard Renjun's fear as he though his life was ending. As quickly as the fear had set in, Jeno watched it fade into an overwhelming sense of joy as Renjun realized he would be able to stop running, even if it was temporary. He heard his tears of joy from the shower and felt his relief as he went to sleep in an actual bed, not a dumpster or on a park bench, that night. The next morning Renjun had woken up long before any of the others. He took his time getting ready, trying to make himself look presentable, then spent almost twenty minutes making his bed.

"I never thought I would ever enjoy making a bed," He smiled as he moved John from the bed's foot to the floor. "I'm going to make it look like a hotel."

"You do that, kid," John replied, curling up on the ground. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Do you think they're mad at me for the food thing?"

"I doubt it," John said, closing his eyes. "They let ya' stay here, didn't they?"

"I guess, Renjun shrugged. "But Jeno still seemed really upset, even when we were eating."

"Who cares?"

" _I care_ ," Renjun sang. "If I'm going to stay here I don't want them thinking I'm a bad guy. And besides, I think Jeno is..." he trailed off. "Nevermind."

"No, now I'm interested," John said, lifting his head. "You think he's what? A douche? A top class asshole?"

"Hot," Renjun interjected.

"Ohhhh," John laughed. "So _thats_ what this is about."

"What _what_ is about?" he questioned.

"You're afraid hammer hands doesn't want to fu-"

"We just met," Renjun cut him off. "Don't be gross."

"I'm just sayin' what you're thinkin'."

"That was _not_ what I was thinking," Renjun whined. He was going to say more, but the sound of footsteps in the hallway caught his attention.

"Renjunnn," Jaemin's voice sang out from the other side of the door. "We'll be leaving soon!"

"Why are they even taking you with them?" John questioned, closing his eyes again. "Isn't it kinda weird that they're already trusting you like this?"

"One second," Renjun called, ignoring John's comment. Deep down he had the same question, but he was too happy to let it bother him too much. _He finally had somewhere he could be himself, without consequence._ "I'll be right out." Quickly finishing his bed-making he opened the door to Jaemin's smiling face. “Sorry, I had to make my bed.” He scanned the room, landing on Jeno who was _definitely_ starring at him. " _He's still mad, isn't he?_ " Renjun thought, taking a few steps out of his room.

The group made their way out of the apartment and down the street, met Haechan at the carnival, and entered. Jeno could feel how awkward Renjun felt around him, even after spending a few hours alone together.

“Anything you want to do?” Jeno asked as they walked away from the Music Express. “There are a couple other rides around, _ones that won’t toss you around_ , or we could try out some of the games?” 

“Well maybe we should…” Renjun trailed off, his eyes fixed on something in the distance. _He had spotted the man_. “Does that guy look familiar to you?” 

“Not really, no.” Jeno shrugged after taking a quick glance. "Should he?" Renjun thought for a second, not sure if he should say anything more. 

_"What if he's not following us? I'm just going to look like a paranoid freak."_ Renjun thought. Deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, he told Jeno about his suspicion and the two spent the next several minutes testing it. Stopping at the last booth, Jeno remembered the events like they happened hours ago: Renjun took another look at the man as he took off his glasses and looked straight at them, or more accurately, at Jeno’s hands. " _Fuck,"_ Renjun thought. Before he fully understood what his body was doing, he had taken Jeno's hand, loosely tangling their fingers together. " _I shouldn't have done that."_

“I think he might have spotted your hands,” Renjun said lightly, trying to explain his action to Jeno, who looked _extremely_ confused. “If we stay like this for a while, and you keep the other one in your pocket, I think we can keep him from getting a good look at them.”

“Good thinking,” Jeno nodded. “Text the group and let them know we have a tail.” Renjun let out an internal sigh of relief before taking the phone and sending a quick text to the group.

Jeno basked in the memory. At the time it had been stress-inducing, but looking back they'd had a great time together. The memories blew forward again and, suddenly, Jeno was looking at a room full of the other mutants, a couple hours after the events of the carnival. Renjun was sitting on the ground with John in his lap, happily running his hand through John’s fur.

“So _you_ made the first move?” John’s raspy voice ran out through Jeno’s mind.

“I didn’t make a move,” Renjun said quietly, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to him. His eyes lingered for a moment on Jeno, who was having a conversation with Johnny and Haechan a couple feet away. “I was just trying to make sure that guy couldn’t see his hand.”

“You could have just told him to put his hands in his pockets,” John said smugly. “You _chose_ to hold his hand, and I’d call that a move.”

“Whatever,” Renjun grumbled. “The point is, I think he really might be mad at me. I mean after that and the whole thing with me running off to get you without telling anyone, I don’t know, he seemed really mad on the phone.”

“Didn't we have this talk already?” John asked. “Why don’t you just ask him?”

“Do you have any idea how weird that would be?” Renjun snorted. “Why don’t I go ahead and tell him I might have a crush on him, too? I’m sure that would go over _so_ well.”

“Humans are too complicated,” John shook his head. “It you two were cats you’d either fight it out or fuck, that’s all I’m sayin’.”

“You would have sex with someone you met less than two days ago?” Renjun questioned, wrinkling his nose.

“Yeah,” John answered matter-of-factly. “Who cares?”

“It’s a good thing we’re not cats,” Renjun laughed. They sat there for a few more minutes before John’s head shot up. 

“Kid, do you hear something?” 

The next few minutes flew by. Jeno watched as the fight began, as he instructed Renjun to stay behind him and started to fight off dozens of armored attackers, as Renjun tried his best to fight as well, throwing a few well timed punches. Jeno’s body tightened as he watched the sequence unfold, _he knew exactly what was coming_. From Renjun’s eyes he watched himself grab the barrel of a gun, incapacitating the person holding it in one swift movement. 

“ _That was hot_ .” He heard Renjun’s thought. “ _Maybe I should say something to him after this_.” Renjun turned his head and began to say a word of thanks, but was stopped by a piercing, hot pain shooting straight through his chest. Looking down he saw a perfectly bullet sized hole through his heart, blood gushing from it. He brought his hands up to the hole, turning just in time to meet Jeno’s gaze.

 _“Jeno, I-”_ He started to fall, his eyes locked with Jeno’s as he lunged towards him, guiding him as gently as he could to the ground. As Renjun’s vision faded one last thought crossed his mind.

“ _He’s going to be so pissed.”_

Suddenly, Jeno was back in the park sitting beside Doyoung.

“What the fuck was that?” Jeno gasped, bringing his hands to his eyes as he felt tears beginning to form.

“His life,” Doyoung answered simply. “My mutation lets me see the memories made with objects; I guess that Renjun carried that charm with him wherever he went.” Jeno doubled over as he sat, unable to control his tears. Doyoung slowly slipped his arm around Jeno’s shoulder, letting him sit for a second before continuing. “I know you’ve been having a hard time since the fight, I was hoping this would help. Jeno,” Doyoung paused, choosing his next words carefully. “He doesn’t blame you.”

“I don’t know why I care so much,” Jeno managed to say quietly through a broken sob. “We barely knew each other and the only thing I ever did was make him unhappy.”

“Just because you only knew each other for a short time doesn’t mean you can’t care for him, and it sure as hell doesn’t make it hurt any less,” Doyoung nodded. “And you didn’t make him unhappy, you saw for yourself that you didn’t. Even if he wasn’t sure what they were, he had feelings for you.” Jeno and Doyoung sat on the bench for quite a while, Jeno silently weeping as Doyoung tried his best to comfort him.

“I feel like I’m being consumed,” Jeno gasped through his tears. “The guilt… it’s killing me.”

“He’s going to be okay, Jeno,” Doyoung said quietly, pulling Jeno closer to him so his head was resting on his shoulder. “He’ll wake up.”

* * *

Four months, _a full season_ , had passed since the attack. Four months since Jeno tackled Renjun in an alley, since they spent hours wandering a carnival, since he watched as blood rained from his chest as he fell to the ground.

On Doyoung’s insistence the two had been meeting as often as they could, trying to make sense of Jeno’s thoughts and feelings. Jeno would have been lying if he said he wasn’t relieved to _finally_ have someone to talk to, _someone to be vulnerable with_.

On another cool fall day, Jeno had already been sitting in the room for several hours before he noticed Renjun’s finger twitching. He practically jumped out of his seat, grabbing Renjun’s hand and giving it a light squeeze.

“Come on,” Jeno pleaded, cupping his other hand around Renjun’s as well. After a few minutes he let go, the twitching gone. “Fuck,” Jeno sighed, plopping back down into his chair. “I know you’re not gone, Renjun, _I know you’re not._ ” Not being able to sit still he pushed himself back up and began to pace the foot of the bed. Glancing back to Renjun, perfectly still in the bed, he stopped. “It’s stupid to say I love you, right?” Jeno asked, staring at Renjun’s closed eyes. “Yeah, I guess it is. Love is a strong word to use, but I… I mean, we barely knew each other but, _I don’t know_ … I just felt something… different. I know it’s ridiculous, but I know you felt something too, _I saw it_.” He let out a small laugh to himself, trying to dispel his awkwardness that he had created. “Sorry, that was really sudden, wasn’t it?” He took a seat again, watching Renjun’s hand for any signs of movement.

It had taken him a while to fully digest what Doyoung had shown him in the park. The life that he watched Renjun live had been, well, _terrible._ He had been kicked out of his home at a young age, living by himself on the street for years, and the moment he found somewhere where he could _finally_ be himself it had all been taken away from him. When Jeno had finally been able to come to terms with what he saw the only thing he felt was more guilt. Guilt for leading Renjun to believe that he had _ever_ been angry with him, guilt for seeing what he had- _watching every single vulnerable moment Renjun had ever lived through-_ without his permission, and, more than anything else, guilt for not being able to save him.

“ _Hm,_ ” a pained noise escaped Renjun’s lips as his eyes shot open, slowly darting from wall to wall. “ _Oh my god_.” Jeno lunged to the side of his bed, grabbing his hand. “Renjun? Can you hear me?” 

Renjun’s eyes met Jeno’s as he offered him a weak smile and a nod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be a happy fic uhhhhhh
> 
> this was the last chapter that i had pre-written, so it'll probably take me a bit longer to get them out from now on :)


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